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BPA and Plasticizers from Packaging Are Strongly Linked to Obesity and Insulin Resistance
BPA, the plastic used to line most metal cans has long been suspected of causing obesity. Now we know why. A study published in 2008 reported that BPA suppresses a key hormone, adiponectin, which is responsible for regulating insulin sensitivity in the body and puts people at a substantially higher risk for metabolic syndrome.Science Daily: Toxic Plastics: Bisphenol A Linked To Metabolic Syndrome In Human TissueThe impact of BPA on children is dramatic. Analysis of 7 years of NHANES epidemiological data found that having a high urine level of BPA doubles a child's risk of being obese.
Bisphenol A and Chronic Disease Risk Factors in US Children. Eng, Donna et al.Pediatrics Published online August 19, 2013. doi: 10.1542/peds.2013-0106
You, and your children are getting far more BPA from canned foods than what health authorities assumed they were getting. A research report published in 2011 reported that the level of BPA actually measured in people’s bodies after they consumed canned soup turned out to be extremely high. People who ate a serving of canned soup every day for five days had BPA levels of 20.8 micrograms per liter of urine, whereas people who instead ate fresh soup had levels of 1.1 micrograms per liter. Canned Soup Consumption and Urinary Bisphenol A: A Randomized Crossover Trial Carwile, JL et al. JAMA. November 23/30, 2011, Vol 306, No. 20
Nevertheless, the FDA caved in to industry pressure in 2012 and refused to regulate BPA claiming that, as usual, more study was needed. (FDA: BPA)
BPA is not the only toxic chemical associated with plastics that may be promoting insulin resistance. . Phthalates are compounds added to plastic to make it flexible. They rub off on our food and are found in our blood and urine. A study of 387 Hispanic and Black, New York City children who were between six and eight years old measured the phthalates in their urine and found that the more phthalates in their urine, the fatter the child was a year later.
Associations between phthalate metabolite urinary concentrations and body size measures in New York City children.
Susan L. Teitelbaum et al.Environ Res. 2012 Jan;112:186-93.
This finding was echosed by another study:Urinary phthalates and increased insulin resistance in adolescents Trasande L, et al. Pediatrics 2013; DOI: 10.1542/peds.2012-4022.
And phthalates are everywhere. A study of 1,016 Swedes aged 70 years and older found that four phthalate metabolites were detected in the blood serum of almost all the participants. High levels of three of these were associated with the prevalence of diabetes. The researchers explain that one metabolite was mainly related to poor insulin secretion, whereas two others were related to insulin resistance. The researchers didn’t check to see whether this relationship held for prediabetes. Circulating Levels of Phthalate Metabolites Are Associated With Prevalent Diabetes in the Elderly.Lind, MP et al. Diabetes. Published online before print April 12, 2012, doi: 10.2337/dc11-2396
Chances are very good that these same omnipresent phthalates are also causing insulin resistance and damaging insulin secretion in people whose ages fall between those of the two groups studied here.
