The BPA in plastics makes you fat.

by Nick
(Montreal)

A recent article in Mother Jones shines some light on the possibility that the BPA found in household plastics, food can liners and till receipts might, in part, be responsible for the growing number of people who are obese.

It seems that BPA, as well as being an endocrine disruptor, is also among a class of chemicals called obesogens.

According to Wikipedia… “Obesogens are foreign chemical compounds that disrupt normal development and balance of lipid metabolism, which in some cases, can lead to obesity. Obesogens may be functionally defined as chemicals that inappropriately alter lipid homeostasis and fat storage, change metabolic setpoints, disrupt energy balance or modify the regulation of appetite and satiety to promote fat accumulation and obesity.”

Put simply, BPA is one of class of chemical compounds that can change our metabolism and make us add weight.

Oh joy! Now we can add obesity to the long list of adverse effects of BPA, which already include early onset of puberty, decreased testosterone, increased prostate size, decreased sperm production, altered immune function and variety of behavioral effects.

Consider all this within the context of BPA being found within the urine of 90 percent of Americans.

In other words, unless you are living out in the woods without plastics, canned foods or receipts, you have BPA in your body right now.

But the Mother Jones article goes on to explain that it’s not just BPA that can cause us to put on weight.

Here is an excerpt:

“A study released last week by University of California-Irvine researchers further implicates BPA in the obesity problem—and raises even greater suspicion about a related compound called bisphenol A diglycidyl ether, a combination of BPA and something called epichlorohydrin, this World Health Organization report explains. It's through BADGE that BPA makes it into in food can linings. UC-Irvine biologist Bruce Blumberg, who coauthored the study, explained to me in an email that the BPA that ends up in our food through can linings gets there when BADGE breaks down into its components.”

It seems that the chemical soup found in soup cans - pardon the pun – is even worse than we thought.

Meanwhile, of course, major chemical companies and their lobbyists continue to peddle the fiction that neither BPA nor any of the other chemicals leaching out of household plastics are bad for us at all.

You can find the full article on Mother Jones here…

Further reading:

BPA has been found in 96% of canned beverages, like colas, energy drinks and sodas...

1,000 percent increase in BPA levels after eating canned soups...

Do not cook foods in their cans, or in other packaging...

Alternatives to plastics...