Benefits Of Bisphenol-A

Food, the nectar, providing nutrition for the growth and development of body, in the modern times is turning into poison, harming our health. This poisoning is resulting not only due to the excess application of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, but also due to the containers/packaging materials in which the food and beverages are stored and even served to the people. Now-a-days, foods are being stored and packaged in aluminium foils, plastics and newspapers while at the same time it is served in the thermocol and other polymer disposals. Also it is in practice to reuse the disposable water/cold drink bottles for longer time periods. These tendencies without giving a thought to the after-effects have resulted in many lifestyle diseases

Being cheap, light weight and shatterproof, BPA, became the popular compound for making plastic containers. After almost four decades (1936) of its invention, BPA is found as a potential harmful compound because it mimics hormone estrogen which helps to bind it with same receptors in human body as female hormone. As reported in Scientific American, BPA can promote human breast cancer as well as decrease in sperm count. BPA is an important component used to line the plastic cans and bottles. When these containers are exposed to hot liquids, BPA leaches out 55 times faster (according to a study by Scottbelcher, University of Cincinnati). Now-a-days, plastics have become a universal packaging material, but its various forms may enhance the risk to contaminate food chains with some potential toxicants. These types include styrene from polystyrene, pasticizers from polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene and acetaldehyde from polyethylene tetraphthalate (PET), polycabonates, polyester, urea, formaldehyde, polyurethane foam, acrylic, tetrafluoroethelyne, etc. The harmful effects may vary from cancer, birth defects, endocrine disruption, genetic changes, impaired immune function, diabetes, infertility, etc. Generally in many countries there are several governing bodies which test plastic containers sold with food or drink in them, but there is no such provision of testing

Aluminium is found to be good for packaging and wrapping of cold foods. A number of researches report that aluminium foil leaches a high level of aluminium when used for packaging and wrapping warm food. The World Health Organization (WHO) has provided aluminium tolerable daily intake of 1.0 mg/kg body weight per day. At higher doses aluminium has been reported to cause several life-threatening diseases like osteoporosis and Alzheimer.

The high level of aluminium in the body causes change in the hormonal function of parathyroid, bone cell activity and bone mineralization. Aluminium competes with calcium in bone which leads to enhanced calcium levels in blood commonly known as hypercalcemia which is reported to be a major cause of osteoporosis. On the other hand it is not clear till date that Alzheimer is caused due to aluminium, but many Alzheimer sufferers have been detected to have high deposition of aluminium in their brain