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On the Road to Eating Healthy
By Sean C (Age 16, USA)
The Dangers of Plastic
Everybody uses plastic when they want to store food. But many people don’t know that plastics have molecules which release a chemical called bisphenol A (BPA). Many scientists and nutritionist have been studying this topic for many years and their research is all the same. People who use plastic for storing their food and/or liquids have more health problems than those who don’t.
What is BPA?
When you store food in plastic (bags, containers, bottles, etc), it releases this chemical into your food, and when you eat the food, the chemical goes into your system. This chemical has been proven to cause many health problems such as infertility, obesity, cancer, and more. It is a chemical that acts like a hormone estrogen, except our bodies aren’t familiar with it, and it’s more harmful than our natural estrogen. This can cause breast cancer, birth defects, miscarriages, and pre-diabetes.
Some people believe that leaving plastic out in the heat is bad, such as leaving your water bottle in the car, and they’re right. When water bottles were exposed to direct heat, the amount of the chemical released drastically increased twice the amount. Although even in cool temperature, the plastic will still release the BPA.
Statistics
Scientists have rated the chemical a 3 on a danger scale of 1 to 5.
90% of studies found harmful effects, especially to children and expecting moms.
Bottles used up to 9 years release the same amount of BPA as new bottles.
Drastically higher levels of BPA were released once the bottles were briefly exposed to boiling water.
The speed of the release was 15 to 55 times higher.
When plastic comes in contact with certain foods, molecules of the chemicals in the plastic can leach into the food or beverage.
The more liquid a food is, the more it touches the plastic, so the more opportunity it has to pick up plastic molecules.
Acid foods such as tomato sauce appear to be particularly interactive with plastic.
Other Choices
Glass is a really good choice for storing your food, as long as you’re good with not dropping it. It keeps your food fresh and has absolutely no chemicals lingering inside. You should also switch your plastic cups with glass, and your plastic water bottles with steel water bottles. Also, instead of throwing out all of your plastic containers and wasting your money, you can use them for storing household items and put them to use.
Additional Information
BPA has been known to cause brain problems in fetuses and children.
It can cause an earlier age for puberty in females.
If you want to avoid bottles with CPA loon on the bottom for very tiny numbers enclosed in arrows. The number 7 indicates BPA. The numbers 3 and 6 indicates the presence of similar chemicals that some scientists believe could be cause for concern.
For more information and research visit these websites:
http://heartspring.net/plastic_xeno_estrogen.html
http://www.greenfeet.net/newsletter/The-dangers-of-plastic-water-bottles.shtml
http://www.thenewhomemaker.com/plastic-bottle-safety
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