BPA infant health threat 'not as high as we thought'

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A recent study has revealed that Bisphenol A (BPA) to the health of infants might not be as much of a risk to infant health as previously thought.

This is according to fresh data from Johns Hopkins University, which suggests recent efforts from brands and manufacturers to protect newborns from exposure to BPA might not be the panacea some had hoped it would be. The chemical has been banned from products such as baby bottles and sippy cups as some evidence has linked it to health problems including some cancers and diabetes.

The study, which was published earlier this month in The Journal of Pediatrics, reveals that despite the widespread banning of BPA in products for infants, a large majority of newborns studied still had PA in their systems and it is not yet clear how the chemical was consumed. Nevertheless, the data indicates that babies are capable of chemically altering BPA and expelling it.

Rebecca Massa Nachman of Johns Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health said: "Our study ... shows that newborns are better able to handle that exposure than we previously thought."

It has been a common assumption that babies' immature livers have difficulty processing BPA and are therefore particularly vulnerable when exposed to the chemical, but while the US Food and Drug Administration has stated BPA is safe at its current level in foods, controversy and scepticism led to its ban from baby bottles and sippy cups in 2012.

Nevertheless, 70 per cent of tested newborns - of a study of 44 healthy newborns between December 2012 and August 2013 - had BPA in their urine, but this form of BPA was already metabolised and rendered biologically inert.

The study did not find any affect on BPA levels with regards to breast feeding versus bottle feeding, while in-utero transmission from mother to baby is not likely to blame for exposure either, indicating BPA exposure comes from another source besides food contact products and nutrition.

Story sourced from The Hub at Johns Hopkins University. To view the original story, click here.

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