As if excessive sodium and sugar content is not enough, a new study offers another reason why fast food is bad for your health.
Scientists from Silent Spring Institute conducted a thorough evaluation of how pervasive fluorinated compounds are in fast food wrappers in the United States and which types of packaging have them. Unsurprisingly, at least one-third of fast food packaging samples tested positive.
What Are Fluorinated Compounds?
The chemicals in question are fluorinated compounds, otherwise known as polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs).
PFASs are a favorite material among manufacturers of non-stick cookware. These substances can also be found in furniture, outdoor gear, waterproof clothing, fire-retardant mattresses, and take-out food packaging. This is mainly because of their unique grease-, stain-, and water-repellent properties.
PFASs don't occur in nature. Alarmingly, the particles of these highly synthetic chemicals, which are arguably one of the most widely used class of chemicals worldwide, do not biodegrade at all.
This means that because PFASs are ubiquitous in the environment and in the products that people typically use on a regular basis, human exposure to this toxic chemical piles up, as proven by a 2015 study by the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, where PFASs were detected in 97 percent of human blood samples.
PFASs Found In Fast Food
Lead study author, Laurel Schaider, and her team tested for PFASs in 407 samples of paper wrappers, paperboards, and beverage cups from 27 fast food companies in the United States. Half the test were done on wrappers with direct contact to food.
The researchers found fluorinated compounds in 56 percent of dessert and bread wrappers, 38 percent of sandwich and burger wrappers, 20 percent of paperboards, with beverage containers trailing behind at 16 percent.
The full study was published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology Letters on Feb. 1.
Why You Should Be Worried
Earlier scientific works have suggested that PFASs can actually leach from the wrapper into the food that people eat.
"These studies have found that the extent of migration depends on the temperature of the food, the type of food and how long the food is in contact with the paper. And it depends on which specific chemical," Schaider explained.
PFAS exposure has been linked to serious health consequences, including kidney and testicular cancer, higher cholesterol levels, developmental toxicity, and immunotoxicity.
In 2015, a top federal scientist gathered more than 200 signatures from fellow researchers to push manufacturers to stop the use of PFASs.
