Is BPA Harmful?

Being an industrial chemical to make certain plastics and resins, BPA (bisphenol A) is found in polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. Polycarbonate plastics are often used in containers that store food and beverages like water bottles. Epoxy resins, on the other hand, are used to coat the inside of metal products, such as food cans, bottle tops and water supply lines.

Studies had shown that high dose of BPA could actually cause a number of health hazards including birth defects, breast and prostate cancer, heart disease, kidney disease, obesity, Type-2 diabetes and developmental disorders like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

A paper published December 8, 2014 by researchers from Seoul National University College of Medicine in South Korea in the American Heart Association journal ‘Hypertension’ warned that people who drank out of cans lined with resins BPA might have a brief increase in their blood pressure.

However, according to a review by The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) released on January 22, 2015, there is apparently no health concern for any age group from dietary exposure or from aggregated exposure. But the report did caution that for some areas like exposure to cash register receipts, more research is required. Cash register receipts are mostly made of thermal paper that is the second largest source of external exposure in all population groups above 3 years old.

Everybody is exposing to some amount of BPA, which is widely used in plastic bottles and containers and in the linings of canned foods to keep them fresh, though many manufacturers have tried to stop using them because of consumer demand.

Small babies appear to get the highest does probably because of their small body sizes but the amount of BPA they are getting would not harm them. While pregnant women are also getting BPA, no sufficient evidence has been found to link any harmful effect to the unborn babies.

The findings are similar to what the United States FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has found. In the fall of 2014, the FDA experts from across the agency, specializing in toxicology, analytical chemistry, endocrinology, epidemiology, and other fields, completed a 4-year review of more than 300 scientific studies. The results of their review did not find any evidence to support the ban of BPA in food packaging. Pharmacokinetic and biomonitoring data continue to suggest that BPA is quickly and efficiently metabolized once ingested and it can be eliminated from the body rapidly.

In the United States, BPA has been removed from many toys, baby bottles and other items that might affect small children.

Heart Disease Prevention - Would BPA Lead To Hypertension?

A recent study conducted by researchers from Seoul National University College of Medicine in South Korea found that people who drank out of cans lined with resins BPA might had a brief increase in their blood pressure. Their findings were published December 8, 2014 in the American Heart Association journal ‘Hypertension’. More details at:

Heart Disease Prevention - Would BPA Lead To Hypertension?

Can Chemicals Used in Plastic Containers Also Lead to Heart Disease?

In 2003, more than 2 million metric tons of bisphenol A (BPA) were produced worldwide. Since then, the demand for this compound has increased by between 6 and 10 percent yearly. BPA is a chemical commonly used in baby bottles and plastic food containers.

A report published in the September 17 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) linked BPA to diabetes, heart disease and liver abnormalities in adults. 1,455 adults were involved in the study.

According to the researchers, adults with the highest concentrations of BPA in their urine had nearly tripled the chances of cardiovascular disease, as compared to those with the least amounts of BPA in their systems. Meanwhile, they also found that adults with the highest BPA levels also had more than double the odds of getting diabetes.

In other words, higher urinary concentrations of BPA were shown to be associated with increased probabilities of developing cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and liver-enzyme abnormalities.

BPA is found in detectable levels in more than 90 percent of Americans not only through food but also through drinking water, dermal exposure, dental sealants and inhalation of household dusts.

In fact, a report published earlier during September 2008 by a group of toxicologists at the National Institute of Health (NIH) also revealed that the chemical found in many food containers, plastic bottles and dental fillings could have dangerous effects on the development of the brain and prostate gland fetuses and newborn babies. It is believed that BPA would interfere with estrogen, which is the hormone that plays a key role in fetal and childhood development.

Nevertheless, in a hearing on September 16, 2008 in Washington into the safety of BPA, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) insisted that BPA is safe because at the current levels of exposure, a margin of safety does exist, which is sufficient to protect consumers including adults and children.

Likewise, the industry group American Chemistry Council also maintains that BPA should not cause any health hazard at the levels currently contained in some consumer products, which is also in line with the conclusion of governments worldwide. They feel that more follow up studies are necessary to support a conclusion that BPA would cause any disease.