Bisphenol A or BPA has once again been linked to raising the risk of a particular health problem. A new study says that children have an increased risk of developing asthma because of being exposed to the chemical.
The research showed that excess exposure to BPA, which is known to interfere with the production of certain types of hormones in the body, has been previously tied to increased risks of developing obesity, diabetes, heart disease and kidney disease in the later stages of life, could also raise the risk of children developing asthma.
To date, the chemical is already banned in the lining of cans of baby formula and in plastic baby bottles. Nevertheless, there exists other metal coatings and hard plastics that contain the chemical that are still being used.
This research, just as dozens previous to it, measured BPA levels in urine then compared those levels with rates of illnesses such as the aforementioned asthma. The study determined that inner city children had an increase of 40% for developing asthma. The BPA levels that were the highest in the children’s urine were found in children who were 3, 5 and 7 years of age. Amongst the children 1 out of every 4 suffered from asthma.
Even though the risk had increased in a modest amount, it was still consistent with previous studies that linked levels of BPA that were high in pregnant women with an increased risk of their baby, at some time developing asthma. However, the latest study did not find that being exposed to the chemical prenatal increased the risk of the child in developing asthma, which came as a big surprise to researchers.
