The FDA has an update for consumers on its efforts to determine the safety of BPA (Bisphenol-A), an industrial chemical unfortunately found in many plastic bottles and cans containing foods and beverages. This is happening less than 2 years after the FDA declared BPA was safe, back in August 2008.

The safety approval was given despite the over 200 animal studies that have linked BPA consumption in tiny amounts to a host of reproductive problems, brain damage, immune deficiencies, metabolic abnormalities, and behavioral oddities like hyperactivity, learning deficits and reduced maternal willingness to nurse offspring.

In December 2008, the FDA’s own advisory board accused the FDA of weighing 2 industry-backed studies much more heavily than the hundreds of other independent studies. The FDA’s excuse: all the other studies did not meet the FDA’s guidelines for determining safety for human consumption, did not provide raw data, and a host of other “reasons”.

What caused the FDA to change it mind now an reopen the “BPA Files”? Possible answers: a new administration, a BPA ban in Canada in 2008, and / or general public outcry.

At a press event yesterday, an FDA official diplomatically said the drug agency “had become more receptive to new techniques of studying the safety of chemicals.”

What you need to know:

7 billion pounds of BPA are produced annually, for use in food packaging, PVC water pipes, electronics, and more.All of us are exposed to tiny amounts, whether drinking canned juice, milk from a baby-bottle, or any other product sold in a plastic container or a can.

BPA is a chemical compound. It is used as a building block of  polymers and polycarbonates that are found in plastic bottles and cans. BPA behaves like the hormone estrogen once it enters the body and disturbs the normal working of certain genes. Estrogen mimicking chemicals like BPA are potentially harmful even at very low doses, such as those found in plastic bottles and cans.

In March 2009, six manufacturers announced that they would voluntarily stop manufacturing bottles with BPA. Playtex Products, Gerber, Evenflo, Avent America, Dr. Brown and Disney First Years decided to so in order to preempt legal action being considered at the time by several state attorney generals.

What to do at the supermarket and home to decrease your exposure:

1. If you have a baby or toddler, purchase BPA free plastic bottles.
2. Throw away scratched or worn bottles or cups made with BPA , because the chemical can leak from the scratches.
3. Don’t put hot liquids in plastic cups or bottles containing BPA.
4. If microwaving baby formula, do so in a glass bottle.
5. Opt for fresh or frozen products rather than canned.
6. Drink tap instead of bottled water.

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Just as the year is ending, the tireless consumer advocacy group CSPI (Center for Science in the Public Interest) has sent a 158 page report to the FDA, entitled Food Labeling Chaos – the case for reform [download PDF]. In it, the organization claims that nutrition labeling today is insufficient, and that existing regulations are too lax to deal with the marketing brainpower of the food industry.

If you have a nutrition label addiction like we do, this report is awesome. The authors break the issues down into 3 areas:

1. Improving the Nutrition Facts Panel
2. Improving ingredient labels
3. Stopping false and misleading health-related claims

They provide examples, from a wide range of product by Kellogg’s , Nestlé, Gerber,  Minute Maid, and others of why regulatory changes are needed ASAP:

Smart Start Cereal by Kellogg’s misleads consumers to believe that half a cup of added sugar a day is approved by the Institute of Health (that’s 125 grams or 600 empty calories!)

Glacéau vitamin water that comes in 20 fl oz bottles misleads people to think that a serving is only 8oz. In fact, most people gulp down the entire bottle receiving 125 calories instead of just 50.

Thomas’ Hearty Grains English Muffins claim to be “made with the goodness of whole grain” and “made with whole grains”, when in fact the primary ingredient is “unbleached enriched wheat flour,” meaning white flour without the benefits of the whole grain (fiber).

“Consumers need honest labeling so they can spend their food dollars wisely and avoid diet-related disease,” said CSPI senior staff attorney Ilene Ringel Heller, co-author of the report. “Companies should market their foods without resorting to the deceit and dishonesty that’s so common today. And, if they don’t, the FDA should make them.”

What you need to know:

The food industry has a very strong lobby and indirectly exerts a lot of pressure on the FDA. Changes will occur slowly, if at all, and the smart folks in the business sector will always find loopholes and tricks to keep consumers just confused enough to want to buy their products.

What to do at the supermarket:

Don’t fall for marketing tricks disguised as nutrition claims. Simply ignore health claims on the front of the package. Read both nutrition facts panel AND ingredient list, to get a better picture of what food you are buying. Buy products with short, understandable, ingredient lists.

HAVE A HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR !!!

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The only special treatment my young children get when we walk into a restaurant are the crayons and kiddie menu to doodle on. Why in the world would we punish them with chicken nuggets, hot dog, a reheated pizza, or whatnot, when they can be enjoying the fine Italian/Thai/French/Vietnamese/Californian cuisine that the adults are having?

Does this surprise you? It shouldn’t.

There’s this belief that children can’t eat grown-up food. They won’t like it. They don’t eat veggies. They can’t handle complex tastes, yadda yadda…

Same thing happens when grocery shopping at the supermarket. Entire aisles, product lines, and companies are devoted to that beloved niche market – our kids. Granted, there are some products for babies that make sense – a jar of Gerber to keep in a diaper bag for those cases when baby’s hungry and you’re not near the kitchen. But have you had a look at your pantry and fridge to count up all the things you bought because they’re for kids?

Whether it’s Danimals, a sugary cereal, or glow in the dark Mac ‘n Cheese – think about the real reason you bought these items. Is it because your children really need them? Or because of the clever packaging that has led you to believe these are better choice for your little ones?

What you’ll discover in many cases is that you’ve gotten something with more sugar and in some cases artificial colorings. Blue is a fun color to paint with. Not to eat.

If your children are still very young and not subject to too much outside influence other than parents and close family, it should be very easy to refrain from kid branded products. Problems usually arise when a child starts preschool or learns from older friends in the surrounding social circle.

Viewing TV commercials is a contributing factor, too. It would be great if manufacturers would refrain from using kid pop icons on their packaging. But the deal is just too sweet for both Hollywood and the brand manufacturers. Unfortunately, the industry self regulation is very lax, and the government does not and cannot effectively intervene.

So it’s up to parents to figure out a game plan that works for their family. There’s no one right solution.

Whatever you decide, try  not to be too extreme. The 80 / 20 rule seems to be effective with many of our readers – if your children eat 80% of their food as healthful as you can muster, but the other 20% more leniently (including junk food and post-modern snacks), then you’re off to a good start. If you deny your children any of the treats that they see their friends consuming, you’ll be in for quite the rebellion once they hit the teenage years.

What food strategies are you implementing with your children?

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The December Edition of Consumer Reports, already out, is bringing BPA, a controversial chemical, back to the headlines. The non-profit publisher, Consumers Union, tested various canned foods for BPA and found alarmingly high values in daily staples such as tuna, beans and soups. You can read more about it here.

This is a good opportunity to get reacquainted with a chemical we  all consume in some form, whether we know it, like it, or not.

What you need to know:
1. Bisphenol-A  is a chemical compound used as a building block of several polymers and polycarbonates that in turn are found in plastic bottles and cans. Which means all of us are exposed to tiny amounts, whether drinking canned juice, milk from a baby-bottle, or any other product sold in a plastic container or a can.

2. The chemical has been sold since the 1940’s and starting in the 1960’s has been lining the insides of cans in order to extend shelf life.

3. 7 billion pounds of BPA are produced annually, for use in food packaging, PVC water pipes, electronics, and more.

4. In 2008, more than 22 billion cans for food and more than 100 billion cans for beer and soft drinks were produced with BPA.

5. BPA behaves like the hormone estrogen once it enters the body and disturbs the normal working of certain genes. Estrogen mimicking chemicals like BPA are potentially harmful even at very low doses, such as those found in plastic bottles and cans.

6. Toxicity questions have been around for decades, raising safety issue, especially for babies who ingest a proportionally larger amount due to their small size. Potential problems include hyperactivity, learning disabilities, brain damage, and immune deficiencies.

7. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) calculated that people consume 50 micrograms of BPA per kilogram of body weight every day over the course of a lifetime. Over 40 studies have found adverse health effects in rats given less than one hundredth of that amount!

8. Over 200 animal studies that have linked BPA consumption in tiny amounts to a host of reproductive problems, brain damage, immune deficiencies, metabolic abnormalities, and behavioral oddities like hyperactivity, learning deficits and reduced maternal willingness to nurse offspring.

9. In 2008, Canada added BPA to its list of toxic substances and plans are to ban BPA from all baby bottles.

10. The FDA has zigzagged on BPA safety. In August 2008 it deemed BPA safe. However, in December 2008, the FDA’s own advisory board accused the FDA of weighing 2 industry-backed studies much more heavily than the hundreds of other independent studies. The FDA’s excuse: all the other studies did not meet the FDA’s guidelines for determining safety for human consumption, did not provide raw data, and a host of other “reasons”.

11. In March 2009, six manufacturers announced that they would voluntarily stop manufacturing bottles with BPA. Playtex Products, Gerber, Evenflo, Avent America, Dr. Brown and Disney First Years decided to so in order to preempt legal action being considered at the time by several state attorney generals.

12. In May 2009, Chicago became the first city to ban sales of baby bottles and sippy cups with BPA. Denmark became the first European country to do the same.

13. Many other European countries conducted reviews in the past 2 years but decided to maintain BPA’s safe status for now.

14. If you think you’re safe, 93% of the population has BPA in their bodies, according to urine sampling conducted by the Center for Disease Control, CDC.

15. There’s hope – Many Japanese manufacturers voluntarily stopped using BPA in 1997. In a 2003 study, BPA levels in people’s urine had dropped by 50%.

What to do at the supermarket:
Here are some tips on how to reduce your family’s  BPA intake:
1. if you have a baby or toddler, purchase BPA free plastic bottles.
2. If microwaving formula, do so in a glass bottle.
3. Opt for fresh or frozen products less than canned.
4. Drink tap water instead of bottled water

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Baby food is big business, with over half a billion dollars in sales last year. For the companies manufacturing jars of mashed bananas and carrots, this is quite a profitable pursuit.

But why do parents, who could just as easily prepare these simple “dishes”, spend hundreds of dollars a year on jars of baby food?

The answers are varied, and include convenience, lack of food preparation knowledge, and great marketing by Gerber, Beech Nut, and a few smaller players.

A few moms that decided to go the homemade route shared their story:

Jaime Hollock, 32, mother of Micah, 13 months, has been making homemade baby food for her son ever since he started eating solids at 5½ months old.

Before Micah was born, Jaime decided she wanted to make her own food, so she bought two books to educate herself on the subject, giving her confidence.

“I learned this is no different than me cooking for myself”

read the entire article

What you need to know:

If you’re buying baby food to feed junior at home, you’re throwing money away. Especially in the early months of solids, there’s nothing easier than steaming or boiling carrots, zucchini, etc… and pureeing them. You can then store the puree in the freezer for an entire week, using an ice tray to create individual portions that will be used daily.

Chicken? not a problem. boil some water and throw a few drumsticks in a for 45 minutes. When prepared, separate the meat from the bones, and puree.

Fruit? The easiest . Just peel and puree. Bananas are the easiest – just use a fork to create a delicious mushy mass.

By following these first steps you’ll be providing your baby the freshest and tastiest food, without any additional ingredients. (To the manufacturers’ credit, they have removed most of the additives and sugar from baby food in the past few years).

What to do at the supermarket:

Save yourself money and splurge on supermarket baby food for those days where you’ll be on the road or out of the house for a long time.

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flickr photo: gregoryjameswalsh

Six US manufacturers will stop using Bisphenol-A (BPA) in plastic baby bottles, according to a recent Washington Post article:

The six largest manufacturers of baby bottles will stop selling bottles in the United States made with bisphenol A, a controversial chemical widely used in plastics but increasingly linked to a range of health effects.

The manufacturers declared their intentions after Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, joined by the attorneys general in Connecticut and New Jersey, wrote to the bottle makers and asked them to voluntarily stop using the chemical.

“The evidence seems too clear and emphatic and unequivocal to say we should simply permit this stuff to go into children on a massive scale,” Blumenthal said yesterday. “And there’s no reason for it, because there are substitutes available.”

Read the article…

The manufacturers are Playtex Products, Gerber, Evenflo, Avent America, Dr. Brown and Disney First Years.

In the meantime, several state and local legislatures including New York, Washington ,Connecticut, and Minnesota  are considering laws to ban BPA altogether  from  baby bottle products

What you need to know:

Bisphenol-A (BPA) has been suspected as hazardous to humans since the 1930s. It is a chemical compound used as a building block of several polymers and polycarbonates that in turn are found in plastic bottles and cans. Which means all of us are exposed to tiny amounts, whether drinking canned juice, milk from a baby-bottle, or any other product sold in a plastic container.

BPA behaves like the hormone estrogen once it enters the body and disturbs the normal working of certain genes. Toxicity questions have been around for decades, raising safety issue, especially for babies. Potential problems include hyperactivity, learning disabilities, brain damage, and immune deficiencies.

The FDA behaved funnily last year when it issued a statement about the safety of BPA levels found in baby bottles. The agency relied on 2 studies that were funded by chemical companies, and was subsequently hammered by consumer groups for having a pro industry biased viewpoint.

What to do at he supermarket:

Many parents choose to  feed their babies with BPA free bottles. This will no doubt become easier and cheaper now.

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When you see this package  at the supermarket, what do you imagine your youngster will be eating?

If you guessed processed orange, peach, and strawberry pieces, try again. The first two ingredients listed in Gerber’s Juice Treats‘ nutrition label are Corn Syrup and Sugar!

A few parents found the product packaging was deceiving. They thought their tots were munching on a healthy snack, but essentially they got a candy (70% of the content by weight is sugar). So these parents decided to sue Gerber.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest :

The case brought against Gerber by a private citizen was initially dismissed by a Federal District Court in California, but then reinstated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit on December 22. Gerber argued that consumers could avoid being misled by turning the package around and reading the ingredient list. But the Court stated that consumers should not be “expected to look beyond misleading representations on the front of the box to discover the truth from the ingredient list in small print on the side of the box.”

Remember, healthy sounding product names and lovely photos are means to portray an image that may be far from the un-nutritional reality. Reviewing the ingredient list and nutrition label is the only way to know what you are really getting. As a general rule of thumb, the lower the number of ingredients, and the less processed a food, the better it is for you.

As for toddlers, fresh fruits and dried fruit (pitted) are about the best treat to be had.