Researchers at George Washington University have found that people who eat fast food tend to have significantly higher levels of certain phthalates that have known health effects.
The danger isn’t from the food itself, but rather the process by which the food is prepared.
To determine how fast food processing methods affects the presence of certain non-natural chemicals, researchers analyzed data for nearly 9,000 people, that was collected as part of federal nutrition surveys conducted between 2003 and 2010. The surveys included detailed information about the participants’ diets, including what each had eaten in the last 24 hours. They also contained the results of urine samples taken at the same time, which allowed the researchers to measure the levels of three separate chemicals, including the phthalates DEHP and DiNP.
| DEHP | DiNP | ||
| fast food in 24 hours before the test | “much higher” | “Much higher” | than those who had eaten none |
| a sizable amount of fast food | 24% higher | 39% higher | than those who had eaten none |
| a little fast food | 15% higher | 25% higher | than those who had eaten none |
Exposure to phthalates is widespread. The group of chemicals is used in many products, such as food packaging, where it does not appear on the label. Even though the dangers of phthalates are not yet generally accepted, studies show a strong link between DEHP and diabetes, an increase in allergies in children and negative child behavior. The phthalate DiNP has been association with higher blood pressure.The amount of phthalates in fast food seems to be associated with the amount of processing equipment food goes through in quick-serve restaurants. More contact with plastics, conveyor belts, and various machines results in more phthalates in the food.
But fast foods are not the only source of phthalate exposure. Phthalates from food processing are widespread in the food industry. An article in The Guardian reports:
In food, for example, even milk packaged in glass may have passed through plastic tubes on its way from the cow to the bottle, taking DEHP along with it. “Milking machines use a lot of plastic and DEHP is free and very lipophilic (fat soluble), and milk is full of lipids, so it just pulls the DEHP out of the plastic tubing and into the milk,” explains Robin Whyatt, professor of environmental health sciences at the Columbia University Medical Center and the lead author on several landmark phthalate studies. “So my guess would be that milk is a pretty important source of dietary exposure to DEHP.”
In the same article, a study showed imported organic spices to be contaminated with phthalates:
Spices are another surprising source of phthalate exposure. A 2013 study, published in the journal Nature, compared the phthalate levels of two groups, one eating their regular diet but armed with a handout of recommendations for ways to reduce BPA and phthalate exposure in their diet, and the other eating a catered diet consisting solely of local, organic fare, none of which had touched plastic packaging. The study authors were shocked to find that DEHP levels in the local, organic group jumped 2,377% over the course of the experiment. Determined to figure out why, the researchers tested all of the foods consumed by the group and found high levels of the phthalate in dairy products and various organic, imported spices.
This just points out once again the importance of preparing your food at home from fresh ingredients that have not been through industrial processing. Even organic foods packaged in glass have still been run through machines with soft plastic tubing.
See my food blog Toxic Free Kitchen for recipes and more information on preparing food yourself at home.
THE WASHINGTON POST: Researchers have found a ‘striking’ new side effect from eating fast food
NHANES is the [National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
THE GUARDIAN: Phthalates are everywhere, and the health risks are worrying. How bad are they really?
I recently started buying diced tomatoes sold in glass jars instead of canned tomatoes to avoid BPA. Now I’m thinking I need to know every step of the process to know if this tomato product was exposed to phthalates via plastics exposure during manufacture. My particular product is Jovial brand, however, there are recently many jarred brands available at WF.
I guess now it would be nice to know the entire manufacturing process on any processed food. Even minimally processed such as plain diced tomatoes.
But the organic spices are a puzzle. And is it only imported organic spices that are high in phthalates? Or domestic also? And what is it in their chain of handling that’s caused high phthalates? This raises a LOT of questions.
It’s a concern because certain foods are needed to supplement whole food cooking at home. And canned or jarred tomatoes, and organic spices are two of those .
I totally agree with you and this is one of the big things about industrial products: we really don’t know the process and often can’t find out. Every product needs to make a video of the process and tell us where all the plastic is, etc, but I think most industrial companies aren’t even thinking with this.
I share your concerns and I don’t know the answers either. This is a whole new level of toxic exposure for me.
Over the weekend I was researching a material and found that some samples of the same material tested having toxic emissions and others didn’t.
We seem to be in a time right now where things are getting more confusing because more testing is happening and we are learning more and more about toxics. I think in the end the result will be more reduction of toxics as materials and in processing. But for the moment “the more we find out, the more we find out what we don’t know.”
Even though it’s more work, I’m really putting more attention into eating whole fresh foods, planting a garden, finding local food sources, and preparing my own foods.