If BPA exposure is so low, why should we be worried?

By Melinda Wenner Moyer
Posted: October 19, 2010

In response to my earlier post about bisphenol A in soda and beer, reader Skeptic had an insightful comment:

As someone involved in environmental health myself, I have been following the BPA controversy from north of the 49th parallel with some interest. I have often wondered whether the actual data supports regulation of BPA. The first study you cite, for example, hides this line in its discussion: “Thus, median and 95th percentile intake estimates were approximately two to three orders of magnitude below the current health-based guidance value. This result is similar to that given by Ye et al. (2009) for a cohort of Norwegian women, with the estimated average daily intakes of BPA reported to be about three orders of magnitude lower than the RfD and TDI.”

What is your take?
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Category: Chemicals | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Soda, beer, and BPA (and hey, congrats to Canada!)

By Melinda Wenner Moyer
Posted: October 15, 2010

Canada deserves a big pat on the back: On Wednesday, our northerly neighbor added bisphenol A (BPA) to its list of known toxic substances. Canada still has to iron out how it will regulate the chemical, but this is definitely a step in the right direction. (Bryan Walsh over at Time just posted a great piece about this, too—among other things he explains why BPA is “a litmus test for environmental health and for risk tolerance.”)

Let me use this news as an excuse to talk some more about my (least) favorite chemical. (You knew it would happen.) We’ve known for a while where BPA hides—canned goods, polycarbonate bottles, and receipts, among other things. But how do these each contribute to our overall body BPA burden?


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Category: Chemicals, Food | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

How not to fight colds: is it really that clear cut?

By Melinda Wenner Moyer
Posted: October 6, 2010

The most popular piece in the New York Times today is an Op-Ed published on Monday by Jennifer Ackerman, “How Not to Fight Colds.” It’s an interesting piece and points out something that a lot of people probably don’t know—it’s the immune system, not the virus itself, that causes the cold’s nasty symptoms. But in my opinion, Ackerman takes her assertions a little too far, in the process confusing multiple aspects of the immune response. While it’s probably true that certain immune responses worsen symptoms once a cold infection has been established, Ackerman also implies that a strong immune system does not help the body stave off infections in the first place.  And based on the scientific evidence I’ve been able to find, I don’t think that’s a fair conclusion.
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Category: Drugs, Illness | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Cell phones, cancer, and scientific oversimplification

By Melinda Wenner Moyer
Posted: October 2, 2010

I’ve always been a big fan of Michael Shermer’s Skeptic column in Scientific American, but this month I have to say I’m disappointed. In his piece*, titled “Can You Hear Me Now? Physics shows that cell phones cannot cause cancer,” Shermer argues that it is “virtually impossible” for cell phones to cause cancer because they “do not emit enough energy to break the molecular bonds inside cells.” While this latter statement may be true—the radiation that cell phones emit is not thought to be energetic enough to directly break DNA molecules—it is not fair (or scientific, for that matter) to use this as proof that cell phones do not cause cancer. The issue is far more complex than that.

*Update, 10/4/2010: Shermer’s piece was just posted online.


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Category: Radiation | Tagged , , , , , | 16 Comments

Goodbye, milk—hello, added sugar!

By Melinda Wenner Moyer
Posted: September 24, 2010

As usual, my readers are raising interesting questions in the comments section (thanks, guys! You’re awesome). In response to my post yesterday highlighting how our food portions have changed (as in, exploded) over the past 20 years, commenter AEK said, “It would be interesting to note how much added sugar was in the foods at both measurement periods.” It’s a point I’ve frequently considered myself, so I decided to do some digging.
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Category: Food | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

America’s ever-expanding meal portions

By Melinda Wenner Moyer
Posted: September 23, 2010

It’s not too surprising to learn that U.S. meal sizes have ballooned in the past several decades—anyone who has attempted to finish a meal recently at TGI Friday’s knows that. But have you ever actually seen the differences laid out in front of you? Yesterday, while reading a paper about gender differences in heart disease, I stumbled across a table derived from National Heart Lung and Blood Institute data that compared, side-by-side, just how much more calorie-laden a variety of common American meals are today compared to 20 years ago. Here is the table, which comes from Cheryl Hermann’s paper, “Raising Awareness of Women and Heart Disease—Women’s Hearts are Different,” published in 2008 in Critical Care Nursing Clinics of North America. Amazing (and disturbing), right?
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Category: Food | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Misleading food labels—are you eating what you think you are?

By Melinda Wenner Moyer
Posted: September 20, 2010

As someone with both personal and career interest in food safety and nutrition, I’m frequently shocked by how little I know. The other day I was leafing through The New American Diet, a book that includes a guide to foods low in endocrine-disrupting chemicals, and I was surprised to read that the “hormone-free” poultry label is basically just a marketing gimmick: the USDA does not allow poultry manufacturers to feed their chickens hormones, so every chicken on the market is hormone-free. While I’m pleased to hear about the USDA’s policy, I’ll admit I’ve been a sucker for years, shelling out way more cash for the “hormone-free” chicken I find at my local grocery store. Wow do I feel like a jerk.

Of course, this is just one example of the many ways in which food manufacturers mislead the American public with their labels. After a little digging—the Center for Science in the Public Interest has done a lot of work in this area—here are four of the craziest examples I have found.
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Category: Chemicals, Food | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Breastfeeding may prevent disease by changing gene expression in the gut flora

By Melinda Wenner Moyer
Posted: September 14, 2010

Let’s face it: breast milk is pretty amazing. It contains antibodies that help wee ones establish strong immune systems, and some studies suggest the act of breastfeeding even lowers mom’s breast cancer risk. Now researchers at the Universities of Chicago, Maryland, and Illinois have another potential bonus to add to the mix: according to a study they conducted in pigs, breast milk shapes the expression of bacterial genes in the infant gut, potentially boosting antioxidant activity and protecting against at least one rare debilitating disease.
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Category: Food | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

Could dieting pollute us?

By Melinda Wenner Moyer
Posted: September 9, 2010

I just stumbled across a thought-provoking study that I have to share. Korean researchers publishing in the International Journal of Obesity have found that weight loss is associated with higher blood levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs)—chemicals used to make pesticides and solvents that are notorious for accumulating in our bodies and in the environment. The researchers believe that POPs, which typically build up in fat, get released into the bloodstream when fat is burned. There, they could potentially cause health problems, increasing the risk for cancer, nervous system and reproductive damage (in part because many are considered endocrine disruptors).
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Category: Chemicals | Tagged , , , , , | 43 Comments

The Yerba maté industry responds

By Melinda Wenner Moyer
Posted: September 8, 2010

The other day, I received an email from the VP of Operations of Guayaki Yerba Maté in response to my earlier post about the drink and its links to cancer. Since my post sparked a lot of discussion, I thought I’d share his note. He said:
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Category: Chemicals, Food | Tagged , , , , | 23 Comments