Many of us drink water from plastic bottles and eat food from plastic containers without thinking about the health effects of plastic..

Bisphenol A (BPA)-containing plastic containers increase blood pressure, new study finds.

Bisphenol A is a widely used chemical that over 95% of the population in the same United States is regularly exposed to..

Over the years, many scientific papers have been published that questioned the safety of this substance.. The authors of the latest work, reported in the journal Hypertension, link BPA to high blood pressure and abnormal heart rhythms..

There is evidence that BPA can be slowly released into foods stored in plastic containers.. A past randomized cross-over study found that drinking soup from plastic cans for 5 consecutive days resulted in more than 1000% increase in urinary BPA levels compared to participants who ate freshly made soup every day..

" rt. st due to a couple of plastic drink cans are potentially serious clinical problems, especially in patients with pre-existing cardiovascular disease and hypertension. And 20 millimeters is a doubling of the risk of cardiovascular disease, ”writes study author Dr. Yun-Chul Hong from the College of Medicine of Seoul National University (Korea) in his article..

Using plastic with BPA increases its concentration in urine by 16 times.

Dr. Hong and colleague Dr. Sanghyuk Bae conducted their own randomized crossover study in which participants were given soy milk in glass or plastic bottles..

In total, 60 local residents took part in the study, all of them were over 60 years old.. Participants visited the study site three times, and during each visit, the researchers gave them two glass bottles, two plastic bottles, or different bottles..

After 2 hours, the scientists measured blood pressure, pulse, and BPA concentrations in the participants' urine.. They were asked not to eat or drink anything during the experiment, and to abstain from food and drink for 8 hours before the experiment.. Researchers chose soy milk because it does not contain any ingredients that can raise blood pressure..

It turned out that after using plastic bottles, the concentration of bisphenol A in the urine of participants increased by an average of 1600%, that is, 16 times compared with the group that drank soy milk from glass bottles..

At the same time, the systolic pressure of the participants increased by an average of 4.5 mm.. rt. st. after drinking milk from two plastic bottles compared with a group that drank milk from two glass bottles. No statistically significant changes in heart rate were found..

Scientists recommend fresh food and glass containers.

Dr Hong spoke about the benefits of this study design: “Due to the cross-sectional design, we were able to control for potential confounding factors such as medical history, gender, age and ethnicity of the participants.. However, factors such as temperature and atmospheric pressure on the day of the experiment cannot be taken into account."

Although this study demonstrates a marked negative effect of BPA on the body, the authors note that the association between long-term repeated exposure to bisphenol A and cardiovascular disease needs to be confirmed in special studies, larger and longer..

The scientists are confident that their results will provide valuable information to doctors, legislators and the public, who have a right to know the risks of daily use of BPA-containing plastic food containers.. They recommend avoiding the use of BPA wherever possible and rely on the prudence and responsibility of food manufacturers..

medbe. en.