what do you drink out of?

Some of you had asked for more info on this… I talked about it a while back. You also had asked what WE did. Umm… I don’t use Tupperware, only glass containers. I try to buy all glass containers at the store but this is IMPOSSIBLE… so if it’s plastic I remove it when we get home and put it in a glass container (cereal, dried fruit, nuts, ect). The boys use glass bowls and new #5 plastic glasses, I toss them frequently… or recycle rather. The baby eats off of the wood table instead of the plastic tray. I don’t use plastic wrap or plastic baggies for food… I wrap the boys lunch in foil or a hand washed plastic container. We use glass water bottles to take along. Yeah… sometimes they break but glass is cheap and health isn’t. If you want to switch over to glass dishes for your kids but don’t want to spend the money… try goodwill or any local thrift store. They’re $.50 and very replaceable. Ozzie does have a sippy cup it’s an Avent and I read that they don’t leach. I think that’s about it… let me know if you have any other questions!

The amount of dangerous bisphenol A (BPA) that leaches from plastic bottles into the drinks they contain is most dependent on the liquid's temperature, according to new research. When both new and used polycarbonate drinking bottles were exposed to boiling hot water, BPA was released 55 times more rapidly.

BPA an endocrine disruptor which mimics your body's natural hormones. Hormones serve different functions throughout your body. BPA has been shown to affect reproduction and brain development.

The increased release of BPA continued even after the hot liquid was removed, meaning that even washing plastic cups or bottles in a hot dishwasher could lead to increased BPA content in cold drinks.

According to a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study, BPA was detected in the urine of 95 percent of the people tested. Scientists have also measured BPA in the blood, umbilical cord and placenta of pregnant women, finding all were at levels that have demonstrated altered fetal development in animals.

Clearly, our widespread use and reliance on the convenience of plastic products is now catching up with us.

Fortunately, the reality is starting to hit home, and changes can be seen here and there. One large Canadian retailer decided to remove the wildly popular Nalgene plastic water containers from their stores, for example, due to concerns about BPA.

What’s the Problem With BPA?

BPA mimics the sex hormone estradiol (estrogen), which can trigger major changes in your body. Of 115 published animal studies, 81 percent found significant effects from even low-level exposure to BPA.

Interestingly enough, NONE of the 11 industry-funded studies found any significant effects, whereas 90 percent of the government-funded studies did. Yet another piece of “coincidental evidence” that shows the power of money. Always check who funded the study before drawing your final conclusions about the results.

According to the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy’s Smart Plastics Guide, adverse effects from BPA exposure include:

  • Structural damage to your brain
  • Hyperactivity, increased aggressiveness, and impaired learning
  • Increased fat formation and risk of obesity
  • Altered immune function
  • Early puberty, stimulation of mammary gland development, disrupted reproductive cycles, and ovarian dysfunction
  • Changes in gender-specific behavior, and abnormal sexual behavior
  • Stimulation of prostate cancer cells
  • Increased prostate size, and decreased sperm production

Who’s at Greatest Risk?

According to Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, the sharpest warning goes out to women of childbearing age. Early-life exposure can lead to genetic damage, as BPA causes chromosomal errors at even low levels.

These chromosomal errors in the developing fetus can also lead to spontaneous miscarriages.

BPA caught researchers’ attention after normal mice began to display uncommon genetic abnormalities. The defects were linked to plastic cages and water bottles that had been cleaned with a harsh detergent, causing BPA to leach out of the plastic. After determining how much BPA the mice had been exposed to, they realized that even an extremely small dose of 20 parts per billion daily, for just five to seven days, was enough to produce effects.

Heat Releases More Toxin

The problem with BPA is that it doesn’t stay put in the plastic. It leeches into whatever food or beverage you put in a plastic container, canned goods, or plastic baby bottle.

And if you microwave the containers or bottles, or put hot liquids or foods into them, you increase the amount of BPA that leaches into your food or drink 55 times faster than when used cold!

Hopefully that’s enough food for thought to help you decide it’s time to switch that plastic coffee mug you lug around to something else.

10 Tips to Reduce Your Exposure to BPA

To be fair, you probably can’t completely eliminate your exposure to BPA any longer, since it’s likely in our air, water, and food, too, but you can certainly reduce it.

The following tips will not only reduce your exposure to BPA, but also to many of the other dangerous plastics chemicals as well.


1. Only use glass baby bottles and dishes for your baby

2. Give your baby natural fabric toys instead of plastic ones

3. Store your food and beverages in glass -- NOT plastic -- containers

4. IF you choose to use a microwave, don’t microwave food in a plastic container

5. Stop buying and consuming canned foods and drinks

6. Avoid using plastic wrap (and never microwave anything covered in it)

7. Get rid of your plastic dishes and cups, and replace them with glass varieties

8. If you opt to use plastic kitchenware, at least get rid of the older, scratched-up varieties, avoid putting them in the dishwasher, and don’t wash them with harsh detergents, as these things can cause more chemicals to leach into your food

9. Avoid using bottled water; filter your own using a reverse osmosis filter instead

10. Before allowing a dental sealant to be applied to you, or your children’s teeth, ask your dentist to verify that it does not contain BPA

In the event that you do opt to use plastic containers for your food, be sure to avoid those marked on the bottom with the recycling label No. 7, (which looks like this ) as these varieties may contain BPA.

Containers marked with the recycling labels No. 1, No. 2, and No. 4 do not contain BPA, but they do contain other unsavory chemicals that you’re best off avoiding as well. The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy’s Smart Plastics Guide offers more detailed descriptions of the most commonly occurring chemicals in plastic products. They also offer this handy reminder:

"With your food, use 4, 5, 1 and 2. All the rest aren't good for you."

The website Mother Jones also offers a handy chart that you can cut out and stick on your refrigerator.

15 comments:

  1. We use Sigg water bottles and Kleen Kanteen, which are aluminum and stainless steel, respectively. I don't know how to stop using baggies tho!! We're using less, but they are just so dang convenient.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Okay- this has nothing to do with your topic but I was kind of curious on your take with Birth Control. Sorry if that seems to personal...I'm actually not even asking though if you use it -just what you think of it. I just thought of it because of all your talk of chemicals and all...just a wonderin'... =) Thanks for the info...!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You can also get surgical grade stainless steel or natural wood bowls/cups (finished with a natural wax) for toddlers, that way you don't have to worry about them breaking glass... I've seen some at www.naturalpod.com

    The dental fillings that do not contain BPA actually contain other very harmful chemicals. I've read that the only totally safe fillings are gold ones.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is great Brittany! I printed out the list of safe plastics to put on my frig. We don't use much around here, but I want to watch the containers our food come in to know which I should transfer the food from when I get home from the store.
    I think I remember reading that same thing about the Avent sippy cups. What's strange though is that their bottles are one of the worse leachers of BPA from what I've heard. I second you on the microwave . I love that Mercola article. I've linked to that one myself before in an old post. Even with our stove/oven out of commission I'm so used to thinking of the microwave as bad for you that I can't bring myself to use it.

    Target sells some pretty heavy duty covered custard cups in their baking section if people are looking for strong glass bowls. Pampered Chef prep bowls are the greatest, but aren't as affordable.

    Keep up the great work! I appreciate your insights very much.

    Oh and I never got back to you on the diapers - I use Kissaluvs diapers and Kushies wraps. It will be a year in March that I switched over to cloth. I'm not as consistant about it as I'd like to be, especially since I have a girl who shouldn't sit in those chlorine laced disposables, but I will always use disposable at night.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Forgot to add one more thing: We wrap our food in wax paper to avoid aluminum coming in contact with our food. MCK Mama told me that she heard someone talk at MOPS once about wax paper bags. I haven't gone to the trouble of finding where to buy them yet.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I just came across your blog and wow was that a lot of good information! You definitely made me stop and re-think some things about our eating habits and drinking for that matter. Your kids are very cute as well. I have 4 as well but 2 of each.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I think this is very informative... I just find it weird how years ago we had no worries like this.. and now all of a sudden everythings bad that we use 2 do.
    Its crazy.
    I use glass to drink out of.. but my kids have plastic sippy cups and bottles. I dont heat them up though. They only drink cool liquids.

    My kids have pleanty of plastic toys 2.. and our church has them as well. Owh and Calebs preschool. I understand we should be careful with things.. but sometimes I think we worry so much it ends up hurting us more.

    I just think of the verse in Matthew 6 I believe.. that tells us not to worry. And I know if I had to follow all these things and stress over a lady at church handing my kid a plastic cup full of juice .. or seeing my baby suck on a plastic chew toy at church... would do nothing for me.

    So I think we can be safe... and have common sense with stuff like not mircowaving bottles, plastic stuff... etc..etc...

    but this was very informative. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I try to use all glass stuff too. Thanks for all the great info!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I drink out of a mason jar :)

    And I am addicted to ziploc... bad Andrea!!

    Good information - I really need to be more proactive about this. I am pretty good except about the aforementioned ziploc.

    -Andrea

    ReplyDelete
  10. Nice post. We use glass as much as we can. Glass bottle for Maisie when she does take one, glass cups...though the boys do have some plastic sippy cups for on the run, we also have metal ones. It's HARD to avoid plastic alltogether, but I have gotten much better about it in the last year. We don't microwave and we store and eat out of glass. Or paper plates when I really need convenience!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks for posting this. I had heard about baby bottles (which doesn't affect me since I am nursing exclusively) but not all this other stuff!!

    Also, what do you do about the toys?? I looked around and most of my kids toys have some plastic, except for the ton of trains we have!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Been trying to "Go Green and Toxic Free" for awhile. This is great info--thanks for the handy chart.

    It just seems that each and every day there is something else we have to think about . . . tough being a mom . . .

    ReplyDelete
  13. My husband and I recently got rid of all our plastic containers, except a large popcorn bowl and our water bottles (which we don't freeze).
    Thanks for posting... this is a nice reminder!

    ReplyDelete
  14. thanks! I love that you provided other links to back up what you were saying! i linked you today in my thursday thirteen!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for blessing me with your words!

Brittany