As an aunt for the fifth time I pay a lot of attention to what's in products. Last year parents became concerned because BPA or bisphenol-A was discovered in baby bottles and cans of baby formula. The chemical has been linked to developmental problems. Researchers have found it acts as a potential endocrine disruptor that mimics the action of estrogens and has been linked to problems in boys and other studies have linked it to heart disease, type 2 diabetes and liver enzyme abnormalities.

A new study out of Canada has now found we may be exposed to low levels of the chemical when we drink canned soft drinks.

There is still much debate on what is considered an allowable level of BPA. Last April, the National Toxicology Program, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, issued a report stating that BPA presented "some concern for neural and behavioral effects in fetuses, infants, and children at current human exposures". Yet, an advisory committee appointed by the Food and Drug Administration reported in June that the evidence against BPA was not conclusive enough to support a ban.

So that you understand what this study found researchers in Canada based their findings on what is allowed in Canada and Europe (which often has stricter standards than the U.S.).

According to the study, "A tolerable daily intake (TDI) for bisphenol A was set at 50μg/kg body weight/day by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and at 25μg/kg body weight/day by Health Canada. The authors of this study claim the trigger for the project was the fact that while previous surveys of BPA in canned foods have been conducted in various countries, there is little information on levels of BPA in canned soft drinks."

Researchers didn't release the names of the drinks tested but tested 72 different types of soft drinks and energy drinks.

Here's what they found:
"BPA was present in all but two tonic waters and one energy product from which the chemical could not be recovered. Of the remaining 69 products, BPA was detected in all samples at levels between 0.032 and 4.5μg/l."

The highest levels of BPA found were 4.2 and 4.5μg/l, which were detected in two energy drink products.

The researchers concluded, "that BPA levels in soft drinks are low compared to those in other canned foods and they indicated that this could be due to the different coatings used in the two piece easy open cans often used for soft drinks or that the amount of coating applied to soft drink cans maybe less than for other foods."

This is a good resource by the Environmental Working Group to help you avoid BPA. They've even put together this nice printable guide to help you.

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