Water Bottle Putting You at Risk for Man Boobs and Diabetes: Bisphenol-A Alert
I love the convenience of bottled water, but I’m not a fan of man boobs. That’s why I avoid it.
So what’s the connection? Well, here’s the background: During the early 1930s, bisphenol A (BPA) was created as an estrogen-mimicking pro-hormone. It was sidelined when it failed to pass the FDA’s safety inspection (back when the FDA still had scruples) due to its ability to ignite cancer and diabetes.
Years later, a chemist learned to “attach” the BPA molecules together via a process known as polymerization, and BPA had a new use. The substance would now be used to make plastic water bottles. This new version of BPA has proved to be extremely useful and can now be found almost anywhere in our convenience-addicted societies.
Thanks to BPA, every time you take a sip from a plastic water bottle you are potentially guzzling estrogen. We all know estrogen makes greats tits, but not on men!
Anyone who knows me knows my view on pharmaceuticals. I have been called many things: “health nut,” “sugar Nazi,” and if in response to a Stinky Sulfur Award, it can get more vulgar from there. However, I have never been accused of having man boobs. One of the main reasons is that I avoid water bottles like the plague, and my physique shows the results.
Unlike myself, the FDA doesn’t seem to mind man boobs, cancer or diabetes. Commenting on the estrogen risk, USA Today said, “… the science the FDA relied on to approve the use of bisphenol A was bought and paid for by industry."
If you want to avoid the bad effects of BPA, the best thing to do is avoid plastic food and beverage containers. The degradation of BPA is caused by exposure to temperatures over 80 degrees F.
Although the FDA is slow to act on and release its research, other countries and some major corporations are acting fast to deal with the health responsibilities, including Wal-Mart!
Posted in Natural Cures
November 3rd, 2008 at 2:28 pm
A 2008 National Center for Environmental Health study detected bisphenol A in the urine of 93 percent of the study’s participants. If any of you reading Shane’s blog think you are statistically exempt, think again. This cross-section study is representative of the U.S. population.
To counter this study, the bottled water industry keeps saying that a bottle of water contains “trace amounts” of BPA. What they don’t mention is that these chemicals bioaccumulate. They are so foreign to nature that that the body doesn’t innately know how to get rid of them.
On top of that, there is an even greater problem of synergystic actions of BPA in concert with other toxins. Not only will men have to be concerned with getting breast reduction surgery (currently on the rise) they may even start growing female sex organs as endocrine disrupters such as BPA mutate male DNA.
Far fetched? It’s already happening with many species of wildlife such as fish and frogs.
A 2005 study by Shanna Swan, a professor of obstetrics/gynecology at the University of Rochester (N.Y.) School of Medicine, showed that sons whose mothers had higher phthalate levels in their urine, in particular a dibutyl phthalate, had a shorter distance between the anus and the genitals.
That measure is regarded as a sign of “demasculinization,” Swan says. The boys in whom the distance was shorter were slightly more likely to have other problems, too, such as smaller penises and incompletely descended testicles.
Don’t think that women aren’t affected by these Frankenchemicals. Pthalates and BPA are linked with early puberty in girls. I don’t know how many men I’ve heard exclaim; “My god, did you see the rack on that girl? They must be putting something in the water that’s making girls mature faster!” Many men are horrified when some twenty-something guy is beating on the door trying to date their 13 year old daughter who looks 18 because of early puberty.
They’re right, there is something in the water.
Chuck
November 21st, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Shane, What type of water do you drink then? We use a water service that uses reverse osmosis but I am unsure as to whether those bottles contain BPA or not. Does the warning about water bottles apply mostly to the individual and gallon sized bottles? What about other bottled beverages, there must be a risk there too?
Thanks!
December 5th, 2008 at 9:28 am
Reverse osmosis for the home is a good choice for cleaning dirty water. If you purchase water and hold it in plastic, and let it heat to 80 degrees F, then you are going to choke down BPA.