Fast Facts about BPA

There is a lot of hype about BPA out there. What is it? Why is it bad?

Here are a few fast facts to help you out:

Bisphenol A (BPA) is the main ingredient in polycarbonate plastic, a durable kind of plastic which is very handy and inexpensive to make. Handy and inexpensive generally equals safe and cheap products for consumers (us). BPA appears most commonly in canned goods (in the lining) and baby bottles and sippy cups.

The use of BPA has drastically reduced the incidence of botulism and other food poisoning in canned goods. It has been used since the 1940s.

There is evidence that BPA can leach from the plastic into liquids inside the plastic. 93% of U.S. adults have relatively “high” levels of BPA in their urine.

In humans, BPA mimics estrogen, which while not necessarily a horrible thing to mimic, is not good for the human body. There are lots of studies showing that small amounts of estrogen-like chemicals can disturb or change the function of certain genes.

That said, we don’t really know what BPA does, if it does the same thing to everyone, if a certain dosage level if ok for an adult but not for a baby, etc. BPA is one of those cases where it doesn’t look good, but we don’t know exactly what it looks like.

For babies and toddlers, the general thinking is that since they are so small, and since they get so much of their diet in liquid form in the early, important months of their lives, that it is better, smarter, and safer to use bpa-free plastics. You don’t really need bottles or sippy cups that are super durable, control botulism, or perform similar chemical feats. You just need them to deliver liquids and be safe. Thus, BPA is better left out of baby products and toddler products.

However, BPA is still in canned foods, because right now, the risk from dying in the short-term from severe food poisoning outweighs the potential (but ultimately unknown), long-term chemical effect of BPA on the body.

There is a lot of hype about BPA out there, but as in all things, it is important to know the range of facts and risks behind the situation. Eating fresh foods, minimizing the use of canned foods in your diet, and using BPA-free bottles and sippy cups are good ideas for several reasons – concerns over BPA is just one of them. At the same time, don’t give up on canned foods completely – in winter, they can often be the most reliable safe source of fruits and vegetables, whose nutritional value is important to protecting your long-term health as wealth. If you live in a very cold climate as I do, you know that the loss of sunlight/Vitamin D and fresh foods in the winter is very hard on the body. Giving up canned fruits and vegetables completely for such a long period of time is not smart either. The short answer? In all things moderation.