Phthalates and fast food

Phthalates are often added to plastics to increase their flexibility, transparency, durability and longevity. The esters are not chemically bonded to the plastic but rather simply entangled within the plastic. This means leaching them out of the plastic is pretty simple.

It would be a rare adult in Australia or New Zealand who did not have metabolites of multiple phthalates in their urine. Environmental contamination is one source of phthalate contamination; however, most of the phthalates in the general population get there via diet, with fatty foods being the major source.

Now a study by researchers at Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University has found that people who reported consuming more fast food in a national survey were exposed to higher levels of phthalates.

The study, one of the first to look at fast-food consumption and exposure to these chemicals, appears in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

“People who ate the most fast food had phthalate levels that were as much as 40% higher,” said lead author Ami Zota, ScD, MS, an assistant professor of environmental and occupational health at Milken Institute SPH. “Our findings raise concerns because phthalates have been linked to a number of serious health problems in children and adults.”

Zota and her colleagues looked at data on 8877 participants who had answered detailed questions about their diet in the past 24 hours, including consumption of fast food. These participants also had provided researchers with a urinary sample that could be tested for the breakdown products of two specific phthalates — DEHP and DiNP.

Zota and her colleagues found that the more fast-food participants in the study ate, the higher the exposure to phthalates. People in the study with the highest consumption of fast food had 23.8% higher levels of the breakdown product for DEHP in their urine sample. And those same fast-food lovers had nearly 40% higher levels of DiNP metabolites in their urine compared to people who reported no fast food in the 24 hours prior to the testing.

The researchers also discovered that grain and meat items were the most significant contributors to phthalate exposure. Zota said the grain category contained a wide variety of items including bread, cake, pizza, burritos, rice dishes and noodles. She also noted that other studies have also identified grains as an important source of exposure to these potentially harmful chemicals.

In addition, the researchers also looked for exposure to another chemical found in plastic food packaging — Bisphenol A or BPA. Researchers also believe exposure to BPA can lead to health and behaviour problems, especially for young children. This study found no association between total fast-food intake and BPA. However, Zota and her colleagues found that people who ate fast-food meat products had higher levels of BPA than people who reported no fast-food consumption.

Large studies that might conclusively link phthalates in fast food and health problems could take years to conduct.