How to avoid the BPA that still lurks in many canned goods (like soups)
You can’t walk through the supermarket these days without seeing an army of bottles, cans, and food packages claiming to be “BPA-free.”
But how much BPA is still getting into our food — and how can you tell what you should (and shouldn’t) buy?
It turns out that dodging BPA is just as big a problem now as ever.
And whether or not we get a whopping dose of the dangerous chemical can all depend on which foods we choose.
So if you’re trying to steer clear (at least as much as possible) of BPA, there are three important things you need to know before your next trip to buy groceries.
BPA is one of those health issues that should have been solved already.
Campbell’s Soup says they’re taking it out of all their cans (more on that in a minute), and other companies have made similar claims, too.
Case closed, right? Well, not exactly.
A just-out study from three major medical schools found not only that consuming canned foods can expose you to large amounts of BPA, but also which ones are the worst offenders.
For example:
- Canned soup was found to contain the highest amounts of BPA, zapping soup-eaters with 229 percent more of the chemical than those who had consumed no canned foods.
- Canned pasta was next on the list, upping your urine concentration (how it’s measured in the body) of the chemical by 70 percent.
- Canned veggies and fruit came in third, increasing your exposure by 41 percent.
So what is it that makes soup, which just happens to be the most commonly purchased canned food item, such a toxic BPA stew?
The lead author of the study, Jennifer Hartle of Stanford University School of Medicine, thinks it has a lot to do with the fact that soup “need(s) a long heating time” when processed to “get all the contents to the same temperature.” (Commercial soups are cooked after canning).
Also, BPA “moves into solids,” she said. So if you’re having a can of mushroom soup or one containing pasta, it could make for a bigger BPA dose.
And more bad news for lovers of soup — and convenience — came to light this spring when six nonprofits in the U.S and Canada found that two out of three canned food items tested positive for BPA.
The chemical, which is used to coat the inside of can linings, was found in 100 percent of the Campbell’s and Target brands, and 88 percent of the Walmart ones. All told, 62 percent of private-label cans — ranging from Dollar Tree to Trader Joe’s, were found to contain BPA.
Remember, we’re talking about something that has been linked to breast and prostate cancer, type 2 diabetes, obesity and asthma. On top of that, last year I warned you about how BPA is suspected of triggering early puberty in young girls.
Despite these findings, you don’t have to stop eating soup or dust off the crock pot and start making it from scratch. By just following these three simple tips next time you go shopping, you’ll be slashing a big chunk of BPA out of your family’s diet.
Tip #1: Only buy canned food from manufacturers that specifically state they no longer use BPA. Campbell’s Soup now says it won’t be BPA-free until sometime in 2017, although the company has been promising this since 2012.
Tip #2: Other options include buying soups and broths in those paper cartons called “aseptic containers” which contain no BPA. Glass containers work, too.
Tip #3: When it comes to fruit and veggies, choose fresh or frozen varieties over canned. That’s especially easy to do now with lots of delicious produce being in season.
Sources:
“Canned foods linked to BPA risk in new study” Jacqueline Howard, June 29, 2016, CNN, cnn.com
