SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (WXYZ) — Plastics are everywhere — in bottles, containers, and food packaging.
Consumer Reports recently tested a wide variety of foods for chemicals in plastics that can be harmful to your health.
“It's kind of surprising because people think of plastic as sort of inert, like you put something into plastic, but it remains separate from whatever you put inside of it. But on a chemical level, it doesn't really work that way because some of these, the the chemicals that make up plastic can leach out into the food,” said Lauren F. Friedman, deputy editor for health with Consumer Reports.
Consumer Reports tested for two chemicals commonly used in plastics — phthalates and bisphenols. They found phthalates in almost every food they tested, and bisphenols in most of them.
“So, the the main concern with these chemicals are that they're what's known as endocrine disruptors, which basically means that they interfere with the way that your hormones should work in your body. And because your hormones affect pretty much everything, they can have a really wide range of effects, especially over a long period of time,” Friedman said.
What can you do to limit your exposure to these chemicals? Consumer reports has some tips.
“The number one tip is not using plastic containers, especially for hot food in the kitchen. So not putting them in the microwave, not putting them in the dishwasher and not dumping hot food into plastic containers. That's sort of one of the main ways you can be exposed to leaching,” she said.
“In our report, where we tested 85 foods, we found that fast food had some of the highest rates of these chemicals,” said Friedman.
She says you can also limit the amount of certain types of foods is other ways.
Other tips include the following:
- Using water bottles made of steel or glass instead of plastic.
- Switching to wood or silicone for kitchen tools like spatulas.
- Eating more fresh, minimally processed foods.
