HealthDay News — Consuming food and beverages from cans lined with the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) could raise blood pressure, study findings published in Hypertension indicate.
Yun-Chul Hong, MD, PhD, director of the Environmental Health Center at the Seoul National University College of Medicine in South Korea, and colleagues assessed blood pressure and heart rate in 60 men and women, aged 60 years and older, who drank soy milk from either cans or glass bottles.
Measurements were taken two hours after participants drank the soy milk on three occasions. The researchers also tested their urine for BPA. Soy milk was chosen for the test because it has no known ingredient that elevates blood pressure, the researchers said.
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Urine tests showed a 1,600% increase in BPA among those who drank from cans, compared with those who drank from glass bottles.
Systolic blood pressure increased approximately 4.5 mm Hg after participants consumed two canned beverages compared with two glass bottled beverages, after adjustment for daily variance, and the difference was statistically significant, the researchers found. There were no differences in heart rate variability between the two groups.
“Because these results confirm findings from other studies, doctors and patients, particularly those with high blood pressure or heart disease, should be aware of the possible risks from increased blood pressure when consuming canned foods or beverages,” Hong told HealthDay.
Steven Hentges, PhD, from the Polycarbonate/BPA Global Group at the American Chemistry Council, disputed the study’s conclusions, stating that research on the safety of BPA around the world has shown that it is safe.
“[The U.S. FDA] responded last year to the question, ‘Is BPA safe?’ with one unambiguous word: ‘Yes,'” Hentges said in press release.
References
Bae S et al. Hypertension. 2014; doi: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.114.04261.
