BPA is essentially an estrogen mimicker in the body and that’s something that we’ve known for a long time that BPA or Bisphenol A is a hormonal disruptor There has been a large number of studies in terms of cell culture studies as well as in vivo studies in humans and epidemiological studies and they’ve certainly found out that from an endocrinology standpoint, that BPA disrupts hormone production and can also cause estrogen dominance in both men and women. They’ll be like man boobs in men and weight gain in women, potential autoimmune issues, basically creating a hyper-reactive immune systems. So you’ve got increased risk for things like asthma and acne, and things of that nature. And even like this combination of diabetes and obesity called diabesity and there’s a whole number of environmental toxins and chemicals, and plastic that can contribute to obesity because when you are expose to plastics, toxins, things that your body can’t metabolize, you tend to store that in fat tissue. So your body creates new fat cells to store that. So, a huge number of issues when it comes to non-BPA based plastic, and that’s why there are certain plastics that you should avoid. So if you’re looking like a plastic bottle, there are typically 7 different numbers that you could see and each of those numbers reflect something different.
Plastic #1 is what you’d see in the big like 2 liter soda bottles or like peanut bottle jars like it’s the thicker plastic. It’s a little rigid, but it’s relatively light weight, the problem is that that can break down when it gets exposed to heat or when it gets exposed to light. So, plastic number 1 is one that can be dangerous if you’ve got a water bottle in your car, and it gets hot for example and it’s a plastic number 1, not such a great thing. That’s one that can breakdown and build up in your body and that would be one non-BPA played plastic.
Plastic #2 would be the type of plastic you’d find in detergent bottle or like a milk jug. It’s a really sturdy plastic. It’s a little bit less leaching, so technically from a plastic standpoint, it is a safer plastic than number 1. The number 2 plastic is called high density polyethylene, you still get some leaching but it’s not bad for beverage and food storage. And it’s a little bit more dishwasher safe, it’s a little bit more able to withstand high temperatures.
Plastic #3 is what you’d find in plastic pipes. You’d find it in shrink wraps, you’d find in like salad dressing containers and even the PVC pipes for used in house plumbing (not cool). It’s called polyvinyl chloride and that one is pretty bad one. It contains thalates and those mimic human hormones and are pretty bad, and if they wash out into the water, they affect fish, they affect ocean life. That’s kind of a nasty one especially if it gets heated up.
Plastic #4 is called low density polyethylene. You’ll find that in like trash can liners like garbage can liners, stuff like that. It’s pretty flexible, it’s relatively microwave-proof, relatively dishwasher safe, relatively heat stable and like number 2, one of the least damaging of the plastics.
Plastic #5 is call polypropylene, and you’ll find that in things like bottle cups, drinking straws, stuff like that. That’s also pretty resistant to heat, and a decent option.
Plastic #6 is polystyrene, and that’s like Styrofoam basically. You will find that Styrofoam packing peanuts and in some plastic tableware like those “to go” containers that you get from the Chinese restaurants. That is a major component of plastic debris in the ocean where it gets pretty toxic for marine life, it’s hard to recycle, it’s not one of I’m a fan of using just or for the consideration of our planet. So, plastic number 6 basically Styrofoam, not a good one.
Plastic #7 is basically anything else. It’s like food containers made out of something called black sand. Tupperware, it’s pretty much any of the plastic that’s not number 1 through number 6. Polycarbonate is probably the most well-known one and it leaches a lot of BPA. Most plastics number 7s are not all that great.
BPA Free a relatively new form of plastic that popped up in the past decade, considered to be a safe plastic, a BPA-free plastic that is supposed to be really heat stable, really chemical resistant, really resistant to plastic degradation, and it was made by – well, it’s branded as something called Tritan – t-r-i-t-a-n. And it’s also known as copolyester, and Tritan is something that you’ll find used by like Nalgene, and CamelBak and a lot of these other companies that are making BPA-free products. One of the problems though is that there was a recent study that found that BPA is not free of what’s called astrogenic activity which means that it can actually be a hormonal disruptor and what we thought BPA-free plastic specifically were safe, they are indeed potentially harmful and can leach and aren’t necessarily the safest thing on the face of the planet if you want every advantage possible. There’s even some evidence that some of these BPA-free plastics might be even more estrogenic than BPA itself especially if they get heated. There is a really good article on this, titled
Safer' Plastics Linked to Health Problems in Kids
Thus, it really is a bit of an issue especially if you’re putting these BPA-free plastics into the microwave or into a dishwasher, or leaving it out in the dashboard of your car, in the sun. They actually did a bunch of tests on this and found that just like normal contact with food or water in a slightly heated situations was enough for the chemicals to leach into the food and into the water. So it’s a bit ironic that you know, for example we’ve all been lead to believe that Nalgene bottles are the ones to buy when in fact that may not be the case.
Alternate examples would be to use stainless steel water bottles or food containers like LunchBots
Source: Bengreenfield Fitness
Plastic #1 is what you’d see in the big like 2 liter soda bottles or like peanut bottle jars like it’s the thicker plastic. It’s a little rigid, but it’s relatively light weight, the problem is that that can break down when it gets exposed to heat or when it gets exposed to light. So, plastic number 1 is one that can be dangerous if you’ve got a water bottle in your car, and it gets hot for example and it’s a plastic number 1, not such a great thing. That’s one that can breakdown and build up in your body and that would be one non-BPA played plastic.
Plastic #2 would be the type of plastic you’d find in detergent bottle or like a milk jug. It’s a really sturdy plastic. It’s a little bit less leaching, so technically from a plastic standpoint, it is a safer plastic than number 1. The number 2 plastic is called high density polyethylene, you still get some leaching but it’s not bad for beverage and food storage. And it’s a little bit more dishwasher safe, it’s a little bit more able to withstand high temperatures.
Plastic #3 is what you’d find in plastic pipes. You’d find it in shrink wraps, you’d find in like salad dressing containers and even the PVC pipes for used in house plumbing (not cool). It’s called polyvinyl chloride and that one is pretty bad one. It contains thalates and those mimic human hormones and are pretty bad, and if they wash out into the water, they affect fish, they affect ocean life. That’s kind of a nasty one especially if it gets heated up.
Plastic #4 is called low density polyethylene. You’ll find that in like trash can liners like garbage can liners, stuff like that. It’s pretty flexible, it’s relatively microwave-proof, relatively dishwasher safe, relatively heat stable and like number 2, one of the least damaging of the plastics.
Plastic #5 is call polypropylene, and you’ll find that in things like bottle cups, drinking straws, stuff like that. That’s also pretty resistant to heat, and a decent option.
Plastic #6 is polystyrene, and that’s like Styrofoam basically. You will find that Styrofoam packing peanuts and in some plastic tableware like those “to go” containers that you get from the Chinese restaurants. That is a major component of plastic debris in the ocean where it gets pretty toxic for marine life, it’s hard to recycle, it’s not one of I’m a fan of using just or for the consideration of our planet. So, plastic number 6 basically Styrofoam, not a good one.
Plastic #7 is basically anything else. It’s like food containers made out of something called black sand. Tupperware, it’s pretty much any of the plastic that’s not number 1 through number 6. Polycarbonate is probably the most well-known one and it leaches a lot of BPA. Most plastics number 7s are not all that great.
BPA Free a relatively new form of plastic that popped up in the past decade, considered to be a safe plastic, a BPA-free plastic that is supposed to be really heat stable, really chemical resistant, really resistant to plastic degradation, and it was made by – well, it’s branded as something called Tritan – t-r-i-t-a-n. And it’s also known as copolyester, and Tritan is something that you’ll find used by like Nalgene, and CamelBak and a lot of these other companies that are making BPA-free products. One of the problems though is that there was a recent study that found that BPA is not free of what’s called astrogenic activity which means that it can actually be a hormonal disruptor and what we thought BPA-free plastic specifically were safe, they are indeed potentially harmful and can leach and aren’t necessarily the safest thing on the face of the planet if you want every advantage possible. There’s even some evidence that some of these BPA-free plastics might be even more estrogenic than BPA itself especially if they get heated. There is a really good article on this, titled
Safer' Plastics Linked to Health Problems in Kids
Thus, it really is a bit of an issue especially if you’re putting these BPA-free plastics into the microwave or into a dishwasher, or leaving it out in the dashboard of your car, in the sun. They actually did a bunch of tests on this and found that just like normal contact with food or water in a slightly heated situations was enough for the chemicals to leach into the food and into the water. So it’s a bit ironic that you know, for example we’ve all been lead to believe that Nalgene bottles are the ones to buy when in fact that may not be the case.
Alternate examples would be to use stainless steel water bottles or food containers like LunchBots
Source: Bengreenfield Fitness
