Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Steroid-free water for me, please!

I'm a little late on the ball for this, I suppose. But BPAs (Bisphenol Aan estrogen mimic) are leeched into foods that are stored in polycarbonate plastic. This is a concern primarily for small children and women of child-bearing age (ack!). I use a lot of plastics in my kitchen - my microwaveable tupperware ($$$$) is polycarbonate (the company won't respond to my emails about exchanging my products) and so are my Nalgene bottles. I'm slowly trying to transition away from my beloved tupperware (I'm so mad that them right now!) and for now will not store oily foods in them. But since I drink 2-3L of water a day from a Nalgene at work, I decided to give up the bottles and get these Sigg beauties instead (0.6 and 1 L).



food journal: Yesterday I ate 20, exercised 2, flex left 20. Today I ate 20, exercised 0, flex left 20.

9 comments:

Crabby McSlacker said...

Dang, I switched to non-plastic water bottle a while ago, but I didn't know about the tupperware!

I haven't seen the most recent studies, but heard something somewhere that led me to believe that the water bottle problem wasn't quite as bad as first thought. But of course I don't remember where I read it.

Wouldn't it be nice if the agencies in charge of watching out for this kind of stuff actually did their jobs so we didn't have to try to figure it out for ourselves?

Jeez.

Carolyn said...

Wow! I haven't really hard about this. I use a plastic water botle everyday at work. Cute new bottles. What are they made of and where did you pick them up?

Thanks for the heads up!

Bri said...

Crabby - Most tupperware is OK - mine is the really clear hard kind (oddly) made for the microwave - that is the only tupperware that has BPAs. Booo. Some people say it's not a problem. But everyone agrees that BPAs are leeched. A very little bit of steroids can go a long way. Plus the Sigg bottles are so cute, I don't mind having an excuse to change!

Carolyn - They are meal with an enamel coating inside. I got mine with a few discounts at moousejaw.com but I will never buy from them again - they took 1 MONTH to ship me the large bottle (in the wrong color) and my first small bottle came dented because they shipping it in only a bag. I had to return it and have a new one shipped out. I buy a lot of stuff online and will take my business elsewhere.

katieo said...

I had never even heard of that bri!

(although it doesn't surprise me. I'm not the most socially conscious person on the planet...)

(hey. where's meg's tag?)

Bri said...

Katie - Meg is home this week visiting the parental units - I expect that she'll spill all of her secrets next week :)

Sara said...

So are BPAs leeched when just sitting in the plastic? I had heard about not heating things up in tubberware b/c of it but I hadn't heard about just regular leaching. Freaky.

Unknown said...

Okay, I'm officially a little freaked. I had heard not to use Saran Wrap and such in the microwave but I hadn't heard much about the plastic bottles. In fact, I drink out of a Nalgene bottle ALL freakin' day long...and use those Gladware plastic containers for my lunches every day! YIKES!!!!!

Bri said...

Sara - Yes BPAs are leeched into sitting water - even cold sitting water. More leeching occurs if you scrub the inside of your nalgene for cleaning, use hot water, or use the dishwasher.

HTC - Some plastic wear is worse than others. If it is clear and looks like glass (like Lexan or Nalgene) - that is the worst kind for containing BPAs. Try to microwave in glass instead.

Amy said...

Great! I'll have to add this to the growing list of things-I-do-that-will-eventually-kill-me! I'm a ticking, time bomb, I tell ya!

Thanks for the heads up. I had heard about this study in reference to water bottles, but not tupperware! Oh well, gives me an excuse to go shopping for new kitchenware!