25 Aug Is BPA Still A Concern?

What is BPA? It is Bisphenol A,  which is a chemical used for many purposes. It is used to make plastics and used with canned foods to prevention corrosion of the can. This chemical is also used on carbonless paper and thermal paper. This chemical, in high doses, acts similar to estrogen on the body. Many agencies have claimed it increases the risk for various types of cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurological disorders, and metobolic dysfunctions, such as diabetes.

Even if we stop drinking out of plastic bottles, we are exposed on a daily basis. You see many types of plastic bottles now that are BPA Free which is great. If you can avoid it then great. If not, I wouldn’t get too jazzed over it. There are thousands of things we are exposed to on a daily basis that are harmful for us. All of the claimed increased risks of cancer and other conditions were found in animals from long term, extremely high doses of BPA. Many of the claims are thought to not have a whole lot of credibility due to the levels of BPA the animals were exposed to. Another recent BPA Study published in Toxicological Sciences had volunteers exposed to high levels of BPA for a 24 hour period for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and measured the amount of BPA in their system hourly by blood and urine samples. It was found that the body was able very quickly detoxify and excrete the chemical. During this time of high exposure, the volunteers were exposed to BPA 1.3-3.9 times higher than the 95th percentile of the U.S. Their blood serum measured was below the limit of detection in 86% of the volunteers.

In layman’s terms, this tells me that if you are healthy and you aren’t repeatedly exposed to high levels of BPA, then there isn’t much to worry about. I’m all about avoiding anything harmful or even potentially harmful when possible. As a matter of fact, I do only drink out of BPA Free water bottles on a daily basis and make sure my kids bottles have BPA Free Water Bottles. Since we are exposed to BPA anyway from multiple other avenues, such as canned goods and other plastics, we might as well help our bodies out when we can. But I don’t think it’s anything to freak out over if one day you drink out of a bottle that contains BPA. The dose from a water bottle made of plastic with BPA is so minimal. I don’t think any guys are in danger of growing breasts and crying uncontrollably due to the estrogen like effects from BPA.