BPA is in found in food can linings.
While more and more research is linking BPA to a number of health problems including cancer, reproductive problems, behavioral problems in children, liver problems, and diabetes, heart disease has been less well known.
While one study at the University of Exeter showed a correlation between BPA and heart disease, it didn’t show a cause and effect relationship, and therefore, it couldn’t predict future heart health…
But a new extensive study conducted at Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Exeter, and The European Center for the Environment and Human Health, took the previous study’s research a step further. The study followed healthy people for ten years by comparing urine samples to pinpoint BPA levels, according to a story in Science Daily.
Researchers used urine samples from 758 study participants that were initially considered healthy but later developed heart disease and 861 participants that were considered healthy and did not develop heart disease. The study found that those who had heart disease also had higher concentrations of BPA in their urine.
BPA Study Shortfalls
The study certainly leaves a few questions to be answered like why was there more BPA in the first group’s urine? Was it from eating canned foods that are high in salt and tended to be bad for health? Also, researchers were unable to make absolute conclusions judging by just one urine sample. And finally, they could not confirm the total impact BPA had on heart health and why it had an impact in the first place.
“This study strengthens the statistical link between BPA and heart disease, but we can’t be certain that BPA itself is responsible. It is now important that government agencies organise drug style safety trials of BPA in humans, as much basic information about how BPA behaves in the human body is still unknown,” said Professor David Melzer of the Peninsula Medical School, who led the team, as reported in Science Daily.
Original article by Sara Novak
