Consumption of liquids from BPA containing bottles increases body burden, researchers report
Prior posts have noted the controversy surrounding BPA. Despite extensive testing in animals, little is known if consumption of liquids from BPA containing bottles adds to the body burden. New research indicates that it does.
BPA is believed to be rapidly metabolized and eliminated. Therefore, in the current study, 77 college students aged 18–22 underwent a weeklong “washout” to minimize any preexisting BPA load that could have arisen from the use of polycarbonate drinking bottles. During the washout, participants were instructed to drink any cold beverages only from stainless steel bottles and to avoid drinking water from the polycarbonate dispensers in the college dining halls. After the washout, the group switched to drinking cold drinks only from 2 new researcher-provided polycarbonate bottles for 1 week. Exposure to other BPA sources was not controlled; thus, the study yielded a conservative estimate of the potential for BPA exposure via polycarbonate drinking bottles.
Comparison of urine samples collected throughout the study showed that after using polycarbonate bottles for 1 week, participant’s mean urinary BPA concentrations increased by more than two-thirds to 2.1 µg/L, compared with the mean of 2.6 µg/L observed in an earlier study. The researches note that they would anticipate higher urinary BPA concentrations would result from drinking hot beverages stored in the same bottles.