On Healthy Living

A study has shown that plastic baby bottles can pose a serious health risk to young children, especially when the bottles are heated to warm the formula (or have just come out of a hot dish washer). This heating process releases hazardous chemicals from the plastic into the formula. When heated, high concentrates of bisphernol A, are released. This chemical acts much like the hormone estrogen and can alter cell function. It’s believed to cause cancer, infertility, thyroid problems, type 2 diabetes and learning disorders.

There has already been a lot of information in the news lately about how the plastic bottles you buy filtered water in, can cause breast cancer in women. There have been warnings posted saying, if bottles are left in the open and become warmed, the contents should not be ingested. Other instances are plastic food containers or by using plastic wrap and then placing the food into a microwave to be heated. Again, this releases the bisphernol A into the water or food, and when ingested, can increase the risk of getting cancer. It only stands to reason, if this can happen to bottled water or plastic food containers, it surely must affect the plastic baby bottles that are used in just about every household across North America.

Until further studies can be performed, to be absolutely certain, there are alternatives a parent can use. Glass bottles are still available and are shown to be much safer. There are also bottles that do not contain the harmful bisphernol A, and are labeled as such. Be sure to read the labels when purchasing plastic bottles. High on the list of culprits are the bottles made of #7 polycarbonate. A less toxic plastic would be #5, which you can find stamped on the bottom of the bottles. If in doubt, be sure to ask your child’s pediatrician for recommendations.

For more detailed information, visit these sites:
http://www.healthobservatory.org/library.cfm?RefID=101526

http://www.healthobservatory.org/library.cfm?RefID=101525

Kathy Dove wrote this on February 8th, 2008 and filed it under Healthy Living, Children's Health |