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Plastic associated with diabetes, what should diabetics do about these findings?

The recent research which proved an association between BPA in plastics and humans with diabetes has erupted over diabetic forums and websites worldwide.

Understandably, a common question asked is what do to, what does it mean for diabetics today and their diet and food choices?

Bear in mind that one of the authors of the work says that more research and analysis is needed to confirm their findings, the first linking BPA to diabetes and heart disease in humans (previous studies were on animals).

So most importantly don't panic. I'm not going to throw out my your plastic containers or stop shopping for plastic packaging.

Diabetics are used to reading food labels and now its time to add packaging labels such as the type of plastic. There are seven Plastic Codes:

1. PET or PETE – Questionable – depending on the quality, repeated use may cause the leaching of DEHA, a know human carcinogen. Light gauge containers such as store bought pop bottles should be a one time use only. Heavier gauge containers show no evidence of leaching chemicals.
2. HDPE – OK – not known to leach unwanted chemicals.
3. PVC or V – Bad – Strong evidence to show the leaching of DEHA, a known human carcinogen.
4. LDPE – OK – not known to leach unwanted chemicals although not as widely recycled as #1 or #2.
5. PP – OK – not known to leach unwanted chemicals although not as widely recycled as #1 or #2.
6. PS – Bad – suspected to possibly leach harmful carcinogens.
7. Assorted but includes polycarbonate, nylon and acrylic and typical product applications are baby's bottles and some water bottles – Bad – may contain leaching BPA.

If you note that there is a minority of "safe" plastics then it makes shopping and life difficult.

Pragmatically it is said that 1, 2, 4 & 5 are generally considered "safer" plastics, and 3 and 6 "bad", and #7 depends. If #7 is polycarbonate, then you may have the risk of BPA exposure.

Resin Codes Poster - click to enlarge

You can see the plastic codes in the triangle "recycling" labels or imprints on the plastic containers.

It may be practical for you to replace your plastic drinking bottles, such as your sports drinking bottles, and excellent research has been done by, for example, Team Running Free to identify the best metal drink bottles. They recommend the Klean Kanteen stainless steel water bottles.

The step you can take with regard to preventing BPA contamination is to NOT boil or heat foods in cans. The plastic epoxy resins lining cans contains BPA and its release is stimulated by heat. So empty the contents out into something safe before heating.

For sure, this BPA story will develop and gather momentum and we'll get new insights over the next couple of years.

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Diabetes now linked to plastic drink & food containers - US Study

Researchers analyzed urine and blood samples from 1,455 U.S. adults aged 18 to 74 who were representative of the general population.

Using government health data, they found that the 25 percent of people with the highest levels of bisphenol A (BPA) in their bodies had 2.43-fold greater odds of having diabetes, and higher odds for heart disease, compared to the 25 percent of with the lowest levels.

That is, by knowing which patients had been already told that they had heart disease or diabetes the researchers showed that by measuring BPA concentrations in the urine that they were able to statistically associate higher concentrations with those patients who had been so diagnosed.

This is the first study which has associated a common chemical used in everyday products such as plastic drink containers and baby bottles to health problems in humans, specifically heart disease and diabetes.

Despite previous clinical evidence of health problems caused by BPA exposure in animals, the extrapolation to humans has always been problematic.

The study, which combined borderline and diagnosed diabetes, asked participants if their doctor or health provider had ever advised them that they had that condition. It also asked them to nominate if they had ever been advised if they had angina, arthritis, asthma, cancer, chronic bronchitis, coronary heart disease, emphysema, heart attack, liver disease (any kind), stroke, or thyroid disease, and all those over 18 were asked about diabetes.

That is why the results of this study are quite important, because of all those diseases the relationship between high BPA and diabetes and coronary conditions was most specific. In fact the researchers observed no associations ("observed" statistically) between higher BPA concentrations and the other diseases. This suggested to them that the relationship with BPA was quite specific to the causes of diabetes and coronary disease.

How does BPA get into our bodies?

BPA can be ingested through the skin and inhalation of airborne dust, although these paths lead to different absorption methods in the body compared to dietary exposure. A Japanese study showed that canned beverages were a major source of BPA.

In a single dose the body can expel BPA through urinary excretion within 24 hours, almost near complete excretion. In life, the danger comes from long-term low-dose exposure.

It is almost impossible to find humans who have not been exposed to BPA. The US Environmental protection Agency even has a daily recommended exposure rate maximum which is said to be below that which would be ingested in a normal US consumer's diet.

What is so important about this particular study result?

1. 2 million tonnes are produced worldwide every year, and over 93% of Americans have evidence of exposure in their urine;
2. the strong specific associations with heart disease and diabetes;
3. because controversy has surrounded the potential dangers of BPA to humans - this study supports the case for a positive extrapolation;
4. and a big one -because Nira Ben-Jonathan, at the University of Cincinnati, who has studied BPA for over 12 years, and has looked at how BPA affects human fat tissue, found that it suppresses adiponectin, a hormone that regulates insulin sensitivity. This suppression would predispose a person to diabetes. Thus this research complements her findings and points to clinical support for the statistical results reported. Low levels of adiponectin are found in people who are obese, which is consistent with the new study, and perhaps another link with diabetes.

Where to from here?

Hopefully we'll see serious cross-validation and confirmation of the results, which would then lead to research aimed at understanding the mechanism by which long-term low-dose BPA leads to these negative effects on health. We can also hope to see developed a means of using BPA tests to predict later onsets of diabetes or heart disease.

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