Reducing Your Exposure to BPA:

As a health professional, I recommend that my clients remove BPA from their life as much as possible. Bisphenol A, better known as BPA, has been shown in over 200 laboratory studies to be linked with serious health risks, even at low doses. Health complications such as cancer, Down's syndrome, a variety of birth defects, diabetes, obesity, increased aggression (especially in children), and many other side effects have been directly correlated to BPA. Recently, it's also been linked to chemotherapy resistance, making it imperative that cancer patients reduce BPA exposure to increase their chances of successfully combating the disease.

Unfortunately, BPA is not an easy chemical to eliminate. Even products claiming to be "BPA free" have recently been shown to often contain BPA. For many people, removing BPA from their live totally simply isn't possible because the chemical is found in their water pipes, dental sealants, and many other products that cannot readily be removed from daily exposure. However, most people can reduce their exposure significantly by changing dietary habits.

Use these tips to lower your exposure to BPA and lessen your chances of the associated health risks:

-Replace plastic water bottles with stainless steel bottles. Plastic bottles contain BPA, the chemical used to make clear plastic hard. Unfortunately, it's recently been shown that even aluminum bottles often contain BPA, so your safest bet for removing BPA from your diet is to get a stainless steel water bottle. Drinking from plastic water bottles has been shown to increase BPA levels in urine up to 70%.

-Purchase milk in glass jugs. Like water bottles, plastic milk cartons (and cardboard cartons lined with plastic) are sources of BPA leaching.

-Use frozen, fresh, or dried fruits and vegetables instead of canned. Most tin cans have a lining that contains BPA that leaches into the food as it sits on the shelf. Opting for other forms of your favorite fruits and vegetables can reduce your exposure to BPA. Dried beans, fresh fruits instead of canned, and dehydrated mushrooms are all good BPA-free choices.

-Choose whole foods over convenience foods. "Convenience foods," such as soups in instant microwavable containers, often come in plastic containers, or containers that have linings that may leach BPA. Make soup at home, and pack it in a stainless steel or ceramic container for lunch.

-Filter your household water. A reverse-osmosis and carbon filtration will remove BPA that may leach from your water pipes into your tap water. Adding a filtration system to the entire house will also protect yourself from BPA molecule absorption through the skin. BPA molecules are small enough that our skin can readily allow them to pass through, so this can be an important part of the puzzle for cancer patients looking to boost the efficacy of their chemotherapy.

-Switch to glass, ceramic, wood, or stainless steel food storage containers and kitchen utensils. If you must use plastics to store food, let food cool before putting it in plastic containers. Acidic foods should especially be stored in non-plastic containers if at all possible, as acid will increase the rate of BPA leaching.

-Use glass bottles for infants. Plastic bottles leach BPA into milk and juice. BPA is especially harmful to children, and is linked to additional side effects such as impaired learning, early puberty, endrocrine disruption, and many others.

-Pregnant mothers should take dietary supplements. A recent study at Duke University showed that methyl donors can help counteract the effects of BPA on developing fetuses. Folic acid and soy supplements, as well as foods rich in these substances (soy, shitake mushrooms, some fortified cereals, etc.) are a good line of defense for expectant mothers.

Sources:

Full List of Health Problems Related to BPA. Baum, Headlund, Aristei, & Goldman Law. www.baumhedlundlaw.com

US study claims BPA induces chemotherapy resistance. By Jane Byrne, 09-Oct-2008. www.foodproductiondaily.com.Aluminum bottle manufacturer admits bottles Leach BPA. Jenn Savedge. Mother Nature Network.

http://www.bisphenolafree.org/Maternal nutrient supplementation counteracts bisphenol A-induced DNA hypomethylation in early development. Dolinoy DC, Huang D, Jirtle RL. Department of Radiation Oncology and University Program in Genetics and Genomics, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710, USA.