XPost: alt.college.food, alt.food.chips, alt.food.coca-cola   
   XPost: alt.activism.youth-rights   
   From: homosexual.paedophiles@splcenter.org   
      
   The more you dine out, the more you’re getting exposed to   
   potentially hazardous chemicals known as phthalates, suggests a   
   new study published Wednesday in the journal Environment   
   International.   
      
   Phthalates are a group of chemicals used to help make plastics   
   more flexible and durable. They can be found in everything from   
   cosmetics to children’s toys to medical devices. Most of us,   
   though, are exposed to low doses of phthalates through   
   contamination of our food. Research, mostly in animals, has   
   suggested that certain phthalates can muck with the organs and   
   glands responsible for making hormones, particularly androgens   
   like testosterone.   
      
   In the current study, researchers looked at more than 10,000   
   people in the US over the age of six who had taken the National   
   Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), an annual   
   study that combines comprehensive interviews and physical check-   
   ups, from 2005 to 2014. As part of the NHANES, these volunteers   
   provided urine samples and a food diary of everything they had   
   eaten the day before. Because phthalates only stay in our system   
   for about a day, the researchers used the volunteers’ urine to   
   estimate their level of total phthalate exposure from food.   
      
   “We found that people who eat out more—at full service   
   restaurants, cafeterias, and fast food restaurants—have nearly   
   35 percent higher phthalate levels than people who eat at home   
   more often,” senior author Ami Zota*, an assistant professor of   
   environmental and occupational health at George Washington   
   University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health, told   
   Gizmodo via email.   
      
   The team’s earlier research had already suggested that fast food   
   contains higher levels of phthalates, but the latest study is   
   the first to take a deep look at all kinds of food prepared   
   outside the home and across different age groups, Zota said.   
      
   The findings are relevant for everyone, since two-thirds of the   
   study sample had dined out recently. But they’re especially   
   relevant for children, according to Pam Factor-Litvak, an   
   epidemiologist at Columbia University who has studied phthalate   
   exposure in expecting mothers and young children.   
      
   “They’re developing, and hormone balance is really important for   
   them,” said Factor-Litvak, who is unaffiliated with the new   
   study. “So anything that interferes with that is potentially   
   quite important.”   
      
   Two phthalates in particular accounted for 75 percent of the   
   total phthalate exposure found in the study, known as di(2-   
   ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and di-isononyl phthalate (DiNP),   
   respectively. Studies have specifically found an association   
   between DEHP with conditions like childhood asthma, while other   
   research has linked DiNP, intended as a replacement for older   
   phthalates, to lower cognition or behavioral problems in   
   children. Both these phthalates are abundant in food packaging,   
   notes Factor-Litvak.   
      
   “It’s very likely that the exposure for children comes mostly   
   from packaging,” she said, “and especially from these two   
   phthalates.”   
      
   Children overall had the highest levels of phthalates in their   
   system, while the greatest difference in phthalate exposure   
   between diners and non-diners was seen in teens.   
      
   In recent years, agencies like the World Health Organization   
   have looked at the research behind phthalate exposure. Their   
   2012 report concluded that while there’s still a lot of work   
   needed to untangle the connection between phthalates and human   
   health, there’s enough evidence that exposure during fetal   
   development and puberty can help cause an array of complications   
   like genital birth defects, infertility, asthma, and lower IQ.   
   In adults, it might be raising the risk of certain cancers,   
   obesity, and even Alzheimer’s.   
      
   US agencies have similarly expressed concern about phthalates. A   
   2014 report by the Consumer Product Safety Commission concluded   
   that up to 10 percent of mothers in the US might be getting   
   exposed to unsafe levels of phthalates, Zota points out. That   
   same year, the Environmental Protection Agency instituted a new   
   rule that would require companies to tell them if they planned   
   to use phthalates in a new product or application, an action   
   that would then be reviewed and possibly rejected by the agency.   
   Both the EPA and agencies like the Food and Drug Administration   
   are in the middle of conducting their own reviews of the   
   evidence (given the EPA’s recent track record, though, that’s   
   probably more discouraging than it should be).   
      
   The US and countries in the European Union have also banned   
   certain phthalates from being used in children’s toys, while   
   states like California are planning to mandate that companies   
   include phthalates and other potentially dangerous chemicals on   
   their product labels. But there might not be any such thing as a   
   safe phthalate, Factor-Litvak said. Unlike other toxic chemicals   
   that need a high enough dose to hurt us, the best evidence   
   suggests there’s no threshold effect for phthalates.   
      
   “That’s troubling because it means even very low levels of   
   exposure to some of these chemicals is going to be harmful,” she   
   said.   
      
   Zota and her team believe there needs to be a lot more done to   
   keep phthalates away from people, including removing them from   
   the food supply entirely.   
      
   “There are some things that individuals can do to reduce their   
   exposure to harmful phthalates. For example, they can dine out   
   less and prepare more of their meals at home. They can also   
   increase their intake of fresh foods and decrease their   
   consumption of processed or packaged foods,” Zota said.   
   “However, since these chemicals are ubiquitous in our   
   environment, we also need changes in policy and in the   
   marketplace to ensure that everyone has greater access to   
   healthy food.”   
      
   Zota’s team next plans to conduct research looking into how   
   exactly phthalates contaminate our food.   
      
   [Environment International]   
      
   *This post originally misspelled Ami Zota’s name. We regret the   
   error.   
      
   https://gizmodo.com/many-restaurant-meals-come-with-a-side-of-   
   hormone-disru-1824159127   
                
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)