What Is in Fast Food? A Newly Discovered Reason to Avoid Fast Food

A new study shows that toxicperfluoroalkyls, which are used in surface protection treatments and coatings to keep grease from leaking through fast food wrappers, are being ingested by people through their food and showing up as contaminants in blood.

Perfluoroalkyls are a hazardous class of stable, synthetic chemicals that repel oil, grease and water.

As reported by University of Toronto researchers, the chemicals studied in human blood, urine and feces were polyfluoroalkyl phosphate esters (PAPs), which are the breakdown products of the perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCAs) used in coating the food wrappers. Scientists said the exposure to humans through this means "should be considered as a significant indirect source of PFCA."

That means you now have a new reason to avoid fast foods.

You may not realize it, but you and your family are continually exposed to perfluoroalkyls, which include perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), and perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS). And these chemicals can be detected in nearly everyone in the U.S.!

Besides food packaging and fast food wrappers, everyday sources of this exposure include: drinking water, dust, air, carpet and fabric protectors, flame retardants, non-stick pots and pans, stain-proof clothing, and even cord blood and breast milk.

But it's not just PFOA and PFOS that show up. The CDC's Fourth National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals 2009 (considered the most comprehensive assessment of the exposure of the U.S. population to chemicals in our environment), detected a total of 12 different types of perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in Americans tested.

I've written many articles about non-stick cookware, highlighting the fact that they are one of the most common sources of PFCs. But this study shows fast food wrappers are yet another pervasive source!

Three years ago, environmental chemists Scott Mabury and Jessica D'eon established that perfluorinated chemicals, specifically polyfluoroalkyl phosphate esters, known as PAPs, can and do transfer from the wrappers into food. PAPS are byproducts of PFCAs and PFOA.

According to Madbury, regulators who approved these chemicals for use with food and other products made three assumptions, which have now been proven wrong:

1. The chemicals won't migrate from paper into food.
2. The chemicals won't become available to your body.
3. Your body won't process these chemicals.

Contrary to the regulators' findings, we now know PFCs have many health dangers, including being part of a group of chemicals referred to as"gender-bending," because they can disrupt your endocrine system and sex hormones.

In animal studies, PFOA has also been associated with other health dangers such as:

• "Significant increases in treatment related deaths" in rat offspring at doses that did not affect the mothers.

• Serious changes in the weight of various organs, including brain, prostate, liver, thymus and kidneys.

• Deaths of a significant number of rat pups of mothers exposed to PFOA.

• Damage to the pituitary at all doses in female rat offspring (The pituitary secretes hormones that regulate growth, reproduction, and many metabolic processes. Change in pituitary size is associated with toxicity.)

• Tumor development after prolonged exposure.

Other studies have linked PFC's to:

• Infertility: A study published in the journal Human Reproduction last year found that both PFOA and PFOS dramatically increased the odds of infertility from 70 to 134 percent; PFOA was linked to a 60 to 154 percent increase in the chance of infertility.

• Thyroid disease: A study published in Environmental Health Perspectives found that PFOA can damage your thyroid function. Individuals with the highest PFOA concentrations were more than twice as likely to report current thyroid disease. Your thyroid contains thyroglobulin protein, which binds to iodine to form hormones, which in turn influence essentially every organ, tissue and cell in your body. Thyroid hormones are also required for growth and development in children. Left untreated, thyroid disease can lead to heart disease, infertility, muscle weakness, and osteoporosis.

• Cancer: PFOA has been associated with tumors in at least four different organs in animal tests (liver, pancreas, testicles and mammary glands in rats), and has been associated with increases in prostate cancer in PFOA plant workers. The EPA has ruled PFCs as "likely carcinogens," and has stated that PFOA "poses developmental and reproductive risks to humans."

Immune system problems: Several studies indicate that PFCs have an adverse effect on your immune system. As described in a report on PFCs by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), PFOA was found to decrease all immune cell sub-populations studied in the thymus and spleen, and caused immuno-suppression.

• Increased LDL cholesterol levels: A study in the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine showed that children and teens with higher PFOA levels had higher levels of total cholesterol and LDL or "bad" cholesterol, while PFOs was associated with increased total cholesterol, including both LDL cholesterol and HDL or "good" cholesterol.

For more information on these studies, please review the Environmental Working Groups extensive report.

So what can you do to protect your health? I strongly recommend avoiding any product that contains these toxic compounds, particularly foods sold in grease-proof packaging, such as fast food and popcorn. Besides the toxic burden of the wrappers, I think it's also important to realize that you are not getting proper nutrition from the food that comes in them.

Most important, however, is ditching your non-stick cookware, because most brands are a MAJOR source of PFC's, particularly PFOA. The moment you heat them, they start to liberate fluoride vapors that are so toxic they will kill small birds!

Every time you cook with them, you inhale these chemicals, and the food in the pan absorbs them too, turning every home-cooked meal toxic.

To identify other products to avoid, the EWG has compiled a list of common products containing PFC's for you here.

Keep in mind that avoiding these products is especially crucial for pregnant women or couples who want to have children, since PFC's can have a serious impact on fertility, and on a baby's delicate hormonal system.

Dr. Joseph Mercola is the founder and director of Mercola.com. Become a fan of Dr. Mercola on Facebook, follow him on Twitter, and check out Dr. Mercola's report on sun exposure!

 

Follow Dr. Joseph Mercola on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mercola

Comments

[rob 1104]

11:44 AM on 01/22/2011

This article makes the consumer think twice before eating something from a fast food establishment. It certainly has shed a new light on the way fast food corporations are handling their products, and most of all treating their customers.

[2crudedudes]

07:34 PM on 01/06/2011

awesome! Even food wrappers are more dangerous than mari.juana!

[Puffin16]

03:12 PM on 01/04/2011

Most of the people addicted to fast food aren't reading this article, nor do they care about chemicals they can't pronounce. I'm not talking about someone who occasionally gets a Big Mac attack, or eats a bag of fries now and then. But the people who make fast food the main source of their diet, including their children, will likely have a much higher concentration of these damaging chemicals in their systems.

The new health crisis of the future will be treating all of the various problems associated with the intake of toxic chemicals in what we eat, drink, breathe, and wear.

[ConsiderTheirIntentions]

12:41 PM on 01/06/2011

When I saw your user picture I couldn't help think of the bird death story in Arkansas and Louisiana. After reading this article I read more about how these fumes are known to kill birds due to their acutely sensitive respiratory track. Sounds to me like there could be a link between this family of poisonous perfluoroalkyls that could contribute to cancer in humans and causes death in birds. The cases may not be related but I think its worth investigation.

[Kevin Kerson]

05:34 PM on 01/03/2011

By now, you probably know that what you eat has a profound impact on your health. The mantra, "You are what you eat" is really true.

29

[Tim Blankenship]

09:19 AM on 01/03/2011

There is just more and more reasons to avoid fast food these days. We know it's bad for us, but we just keep going back for more. Articles like this are good to make us think twice before we pull into the drive through.

[realitytrumpsbull]

09:30 PM on 01/02/2011

Whatever happened to just using wax paper? Car wax is organic, repels water, presumably, you can eat it, at least that was the case with beeswax, so, if it's really that big of a concern, then work on trying to substitute one for the other, there. But, I think the problem is larger than a cheeseburger wrapper, I think it goes on into other things such as: Basic construction of homes, cars, and everything else in our synthetic, man-made world. There's no escape from the chemicals. Answer? Counter with nutrition, exercise, and plenty of daily water intake, to help flush out the kidneys. Alternate your diet also, to include a steady supply of green leafys and fresh fruit, which can also be wax-coated, so wash before eating. 

Further, though, the human body is thankfully stronger than that of your average lab rat, and people are known for surviving exposure to a lot of things, including radiation. You can't live in a bubble(which might be made out of the unpronounceable stuff mentioned in this article, the stuff that's supposed to kill you) to protect yourself from all the hazards in the world, natural or man-made. And, if you think I'm going to skip my weekly gut bomb because of this article, well, that's not happening. Better to have lived, and enjoyed the cheeseburger...

[pedernales]

07:33 PM on 01/02/2011

Not to mention the approximately 200,000 farmers in India who have committed suicide because of the toxic failure of GMO crops and their effects on their environment. You can rest assured that in the corporate colonized USA, GMO seeds infested with pesticides and other poisons are in all this junk food.

[peaceandfreedom]

02:14 PM on 01/02/2011

Thank gawd someone is finally talking about the dangers of non stick cookware.

This is something that both industry and the government have known about for years--like so many other chemicals, food, and drugs--and the scope of damage to an entire generation of kids raised on food cooked in those pans is alarming.

The toxic load that the planet now carries is directly responsible for the exponential rise in cancers and other developmental diseases that affect sexual maturation as well as mental ability. We see it every day in the gradual degradation of our society mentally and physically. The only reason it isn't more apparent is the frog in the warm (and getting hotter every minute!) water existence we lead.

It is difficult to see a problem when you are a part of it.

Thank you for this piece, and keep them coming!

[coolfireone]

01:47 PM on 01/02/2011

To be fair, how many freight car loads of the chemicals themselves is it necessary to eat per day for dangerous results to the body? That's not being sarcastic. Very many of potentially dangerous substances, e.g., carcinogins, do require intake in train car load amounts to be dangerous, but this fact is not normally carried along with the warnings. Go back to the lab tests, where some actually exist, and see amounts give to small lab animals over what period of time. Also, linked to and associated with are not definitive terms, as other factors, present but not the subject of any given study, can also said to be linked to and / or associated with whatever result present.

My apologies for this negative take, but I am tired of the amount of warnings about so called fast food. Now it's the wrappers.

[David Rozgonyi]

04:41 PM on 01/02/2011

Well, the problem is, like the extra calories in the food itself, these things are often cumulative. You may be surprised at how close you come over fifty years to eating that freight car worth of the stuff.

[AZreb]

09:28 PM on 01/02/2011

What the heck is safe to eat or wear or use? We had the E-coli in foods, salmonella, other food borne pathogens and diseases - lettuce, tomatoes, peppers - all supposedly part of a healthy diet. We had the toxins causing death and debilitation in pets - lead in kids' jewelry and now in the action figure glasses from a fast food place that the government in its infinite stupidity says are for adults, not kids - medicine ingredients that are unsafe.

If you check the lists, you will see so many products that contain so many unsafe agents that it will make your head swim. Now 73, I am amazed that I am still alive after all these unsafe products I eat and wear and use.

[EvolveorPerish]

05:44 PM on 01/14/2011

Actually, most of these toxic chems, petroleum products, and heavy metals have just become pervasive in our society the last 50 yrs or so. A baby born today will have more exposure to them in the course of growing up than you would in your entire lifetime- you are luckier than the newborn, celebrate! ( I guess?? o.k. yeah, its depressing)

[miloiki]

12:59 PM on 01/02/2011

This is paranoia in spades. What a way to go through life, afraid of everything. I feel sorry for the author. His must be a grim existence.

[montemalone]

06:17 PM on 01/02/2011

It's a matter of being aware of what goes into your body, and the possible hazards therewith.

[FPhoebe]

12:13 AM on 01/04/2011

Fast food is more or less disgusting and provides nothing other than a full stomach. This just makes it more so.

[Razzer]

12:13 PM on 01/02/2011

Eye-opening article and links. The summary of the study published at http://www.ewg.org/node/21726 indicates that while the rats were exposed to 40 ppb (a very high dose), the research of several studies indicated "Thus far, scientists have failed to find a dose of PFOA that does not damage the immune system." (The rat studies indicated highest risk to the young, lesser risk to adult rats.)

And it is ubiquitous in manufactured products - clothing, dental floss, furniture, carpet, cookware, etc., etc. This link's hyperlinks cites product names.
http://www.ewg.org/node/21787

[chris87654]

12:08 PM on 01/02/2011

It's amazing what the body can handle, and NO ONE knows the effects of mixing all the stuff we're exposed to. Issues like autism, ADHD, autoimmune diseases, etc have been increasing over the years. One went the other way - an unexplained decrease in peptic/duodenal ulcers started in the late 1950's. In 1982 two doctors figured out most ulcers were caused by a bacteria and the increasing use of antibiotics was killing it - of course, the downside has been superbugs.... There are too many combinations to study long-term effects of low dose exposure, but one can look at foreign countries where incidents are lower to see if they don't use the toxins (still a big job).

[Axlotl]

11:24 AM on 01/02/2011

I'm a bio student that wocks in an environmental toxicology lab while focusing on water issues. These have been identified as the hot new "Omigodwhathavewedone??" by the EPA.

If you know anything about chemistry, and you have yourself a look at the structure of PFOA, you know immediately that it's not something even remotely natural, or that you want to be ingesting. It's brutally reactive, ought to be banned immediately, and the Dupont plant in Fayettville, NC declared a brownfield and cleaned up at DuPont's expense.

[peaceandfreedom]

02:19 PM on 01/02/2011

Between Dupont and Monsanto one could almost assume an agenda of destruction.

[Another Person]

11:20 AM on 01/02/2011

The author is a physician and yet doesn't understand study results? If children are being exposed to PFOAs from fast food wrappers then the correlation between PFOAs and LDL levels likely isn't what the doctor is representing. PFOAs probably don't cause high LDL, they're most likely a mere indicia of the poor eating habits that cause the high LDL. Correlation is not causation.

[Daily Scoopwriter]

10:37 AM on 01/02/2011

Everyone: The reason it is in breastmilk, air, and water, for instance...

IS BECAUSE IT IS PRODUCED AND PUT IN PRODUCTS...

wake up to the new reality...and Happy New Year!