Fast Food Eating Exposed Body to an Unknown Chemical

Sharon Moore April 21, 2016

New research shows another reason why fast food products is harmful to the body. The study revealed that people who consume more fast food tend to have higher levels of Phthalates in their urine.

Phthalates are used to make food packaging materials, tubing for dairy products, and other materials involved in the food production process. It is said that Phthalates make plastic more flexible, which can also be transferred through the use of vinyl gloves which are used by the employees to prevent food poisoning while in the process of packaging, the two specific types known as DEHP and DiNP.

“Other research suggests these chemicals can leach out of plastic food packaging and can contaminate highly processed food,” according to a press release from George Washington University.

While according to U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, the DEHP and DiNP shown to affect the reproductive systems of laboratory animals. This chemical is still being studied to understand more possible impacts to humans’ health in general.

There are close to 9000 participants who answered questions about their diet through a research conducted by GWU’s Milken Institute School of Public Health. These participants also provided urine samples for testing of the presence of DEHP and DiNP.

According to lead author Ami Zota, an assistant professor of environmental and occupational health, people who ate the most fast food had Phthalate levels that were as much as 40% above those who do not consume any fast-food food the prior day.

Experts don’t know yet what will be the effect of this chemical to human health when it enters the body. It is proven that the more fast food byproducts a person consumes, the more Phthalates he/she consumes too. Researchers also found that the greatest contributors of phthalates are grain and meat-based fast foods, however one who is concerned about this issue can start eating more fruits and vegetables instead of fast food byproducts.

Source of this article:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/phthalates-fast-food-exposure_us_570e5ff2e4b03d8b7b9ef9b9?utm_hp_ref=healthy-living