In my last blog article, we talked about the dangers of BPA products and how they may be affecting your health.
Often when I mention my concerns around Bisphenol chemicals, many patients are pleased and excited to tell me that they’ve changed all their products to “BPA-Free.”
They’re quickly disappointed to learn that “BPA-Free” is a simply a marketing ploy, and an absolute joke.
Are there similar health issues with “BPA-Free” plastics and products?!
YES!!
Environmental Health Perspectives study looked at BPA free products and almost all leached chemicals that exhibited similar “estrogenic activity.” These include chemicals with the names BPS, BPF and others. It turns out that there’s a whole alphabet of bisphenol compounds and advertisers and companies think they can simply remove BPA and we won’t think twice about it.
The Goal
My goal for patients is to always work on every aspect of health and wellness…whether it’s stress management, good lifestyle habits or proper diet. My goal with this isn’t to simply support your body’s ability to excrete and detox bisphenols (which is important though), but to treat the root cause and limit your exposure to it once and for all.
The (Great?) Thing About BPA
One positive thing about the bisphenol chemicals is that they don’t stay in your body forever once you’ve been exposed-they aren’t persistent. This is great news because it means that if we can find all the areas or products that you’re being exposed through, we can help to limit how often and how much that happens and HUGELY decrease the health effects on your body. AVOIDANCE IS KEY!
TO AVOID ALL of the Bisphenol ingredients, get rid of:
- Canned Foods
- “BPA-free” plastic or cans
- Thermal Receipts!
- Literally don’t touch your receipts. They can absorb through your skin very quickly (and it’s even worse if you’ve used alcohol hand sanitizer on your hands prior!).
- Pop cans
- PVC Plastics
Healthier and Safer Options:
- Glass water bottles
- Stainless Steel water bottles
- Food packaged in glass instead of cans (think soup, tomato sauce, etc)
- Dry packaged foods (beans, chickpeas, etc)
- IF YOU HANDLE RECEIPTS AT WORK, wear gloves. (yes it’s affecting your health that much)
- Kombucha (or other drinks of course) in glass bottles instead of canned drinks! At often ¼ of the sugar, kombucha still tastes like pop, doesn’t have BPA and BPA-like worries, and you’re getting good probiotics into your body!
Are you concerned that BPA or similar bisphenol products may be affecting your health? Book in for a visit and we can assess your current exposure and risk and get your health back on the right track!
References:
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/1408989/
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/121-a97/
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bpa-free-plastic-containers-may-be-just-as-hazardous/
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/EHP-Collection-Bisphenol-A.pdf