Can some food packaging cause infertility?

Bisphenol-A, a controversial chemical used to harden the packaging for many foods and drinks that can affect human fertility.

The substance bisphenol-A is found in some food bottles and containers that are suspected of causing infertility.Photo: MSN

Last month, a scientific adviser from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) made the mistake of announcing that bisphenol-A (BPA), widely used in the production of infant bottles and milk bottles. This kind of packaging for food and beverages is not dangerous to health. The department also said in early 2009 it would begin to study whether BPA affects children under 1 month of age.

Soon after, at the end of November 2008, at the annual meeting of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, meeting in San Francisco, many reports proved that BPA could not only reduce the probability of success when fertilizing. in vitro but also prevent the fetus from attaching to the uterus. 'This finding is extremely important,' said Dr. Richard J. Paulson, Chairman of the Department of Reproductive and Infertility Endocrinology, Southern California School of Medicine.

In the first report, a team of University of California-led Dr. Julie Lamb's team of physicians determined the level of BPA in people (both male and female) to the hospital for in vitro fertilization and found that 93 % of 41 women had BPA levels at detectable levels, and 81% of 41 men contained BPA at significant doses.

Researchers have observed that in women with BPA infection, it is often difficult to conceive. But Paulson does not think this comment is sufficient to prove that BPA affects the success of in vitro production of embryos.

However, he said: 'Most women who go to the hospital for infertility find BPA in the blood, but the meaning of the comment is not considered to be a definite evidence'.

In another report, BS. Shelley Ehrlich, Harvard School of Public Health and colleagues found that exposure to BPA had no effect on sperm, after determining the level of BPA in sperm of 71 men. He and his sperm quality assessment.

Milk bottles may also have bisphenol-A.Photos: MNS.com

This finding, according to TS. Paulson, 'reaffirmed that the results should only be considered as the first step, because the research time is still small'.

Comment on these 2 studies, PhD. Hugh S. Taylor, Dean of the Department of Reproductive and Infertility Endocrinology, Yale University School of Medicine, noted that studies have not yet reached statistical reliability (as data is limited). is what I doubt about the conviction of BPA. It seems that BPA is still more inclined to the role of a developmental toxin, associated with childbirth and later developmental death. '

In the third study, TS. Lusine Aghajanova, a postdoctoral intern at the University of California, San Francisco, gave the uterine cells of healthy women contact with BPA at a level often found in Americans. "We have observed that when uterine cells are exposed to BPA, the cell division is severely reduced," she said. Moreover, the data we obtained also shows that BPA can interfere with the later development of uterine cells and how these cells prepare for a woman's pregnancy. '

'BPA exposure may prevent the fetus from attaching to the uterus,' she added.

Previous studies on animals have shown that BPA can act similarly to female sex hormones estrogen. The concern is that exposure to this chemical can cause birth defects and child development problems.

It is also suspected that exposure to BPA is also the cause of some other health risks such as cancer, diabetes, obesity and mental dysfunction. BPA exposure can occur through direct contact with this chemical or indirectly through food and beverages contained in the packaging that participates in BPA during the manufacturing process.