By now the majority of consumers have read or heard about the variety of dangerous chemicals such as pesticides, coloring, preservatives, dyes, and additives that are contained within many of the foods we consume, both at home and when eating outside of the home.

What a lot of us are less familiar with, or aware of, is the toxic packaging that even foods we think of as healthy and good for us, or that read “natural and organic,” can contain. Bisphenol A (BPA) is a leading culprit of carcinogenic toxins found in food packaging.

Since 1960, Bisphenol A (BPA) an industrial chemical has been used in hard plastic bottles, as well as other forms of containers and bottles that various types of food and beverages are packaged in. BPA mimics hormone chemistry and has been associated with breast and prostate cancer.

Two organizations that have focused on the environmental causes of breast cancer, The Breast Cancer Fund and Silent Spring Institute, both conducted a study to identify just how dangerous packing with BPA was. They enrolled multiple families who regularly consumed packaged and microwaved foods in packaging for three days straight. Then they were given only organic, fresh food to eat for three days that were not packaged or microwaved in packaging. Their BPA levels were measured via urine analysis before and after each of the three-day diets.

The dramatic findings, which showed that 2/3rds of the BPA was eliminated from the body after three days of BPA free packaging, were published in the online journal Environmental Health Perspectives. The study served to demonstrate how quickly BPA levels can rise in our body but also how quickly we can lower our BPA levels by changing how we prepare our food and changing the type of packaging we purchase our foods in.

The answer to greatly reducing BPA’s is to

(1) buy whole foods

(2) take them home in paper, not plastic, bags

(3) do not microwave in plastic or cardboard, using glass or ceramic containers instead and

(4) avoid plastic containers from heating up, such as bottled water sitting in the sun, as heat raises BPA levels in plastic

These are simple, preventative approaches to reducing the risk of exposure to toxins in your food consumption and protecting your family from unsafe levels of this unwanted carcinogen.

- Dr. Georgianna Donadio