Bisphenol A or BPA is a chemical substance used since the 1960s to fabricar hard and light plasticsthat is usedin food and beverage packaging, dental fillings, paints, and eyeglass lenses, among other everyday objects. France and Spain have already banned the use of this substance in all materials that are in contact with baby food, applying what is known as the “precautionary principle”. And several investigations have revealed that excessive exposure to this material can have harmful effects on health, although at the moment it seems that they are short-range and high doses, and do not represent a risk that prompts law enforcement agencies to take new measures that restrict their use.
Childhood obesityAccording to a study just published in the journal ‘PLoS ONE’, girls between 9 and 12 years old who have higher levels of bisphenol A in their urine have twice the risk of being obese than those with lower concentrations.
Narrower arteries.Recent British research by scientists from the Universities of Exeter and Cambridge revealed that there is a direct relationship between high levels of Bisphenol A in the urine and severe coronary artery stenosis, a disease characterized by narrowing of the arteries that can cause angina pectoris and heart attacks.
Teeth.A French study from the University of Paris-Diderot from experiments with newborn rats suggests that daily exposure to Bisphenol A damages tooth enamel at an early age. Specifically, it could cause a pathology called molar incisor hypomineralization (IMH), which in humans affects 18% of children between 6 and 8 years of age.
Anxiety.Scientists at North Carolina State University (USA) recently demonstrated that exposure to DPA during pregnancy, lactation and the first years of life can generate high levels of anxiety due to changes in gene expression in the region brain of the amygdala, linked to emotions such as fear. Their conclusions were released in ‘PLOS One’.
