BPA, you’re yesterday’s news. Researchers have found another potentially harmful chemical to worry about: melamine. It’s approved in the United States for use in products like dishes, cooking utensils, and paper, but a new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine says it may leach from plastic containers into your food. In a small Taiwanese study, healthy young adults slurped hot soup poured into melamine bowls. (The exact brands used in the study are likely sold in Asian markets here, while others are available at an array of mainstream retailers.) Afterward, participants’ blood levels of the chemical were much higher than they were after eating soup out of ceramic bowls (about 8 parts per billion, compared with less than 2 parts per billion). The good news: These levels are still much lower than what the Food and Drug Administration considers safe (2,500 parts per billion). Here’s the thing: The researchers didn’t examine whether the melamine from the bowls caused health problems. But similar levels have been linked to kidney stones in adults, says study author Ming-Tsang Wu, MD, ScD, of Kaohsiung Medical University. More from Prevention: BPA Now, Heart Disease Later? Once in your body, melamine can harm your kidneys in two ways, says David S. Goldfarb, MD, a kidney specialist at NYU Langone Medical Center and New York Harbor Veterans Affairs Medical Center who wasn’t involved with the study. First, it forms crystals that could eventually become kidney stones. And in high enough doses, it becomes toxic, destroying kidney tissue. “Exactly how isn’t really clear—but it doesn’t belong in your kidneys,” Goldfarb says. Pregnant women and children are most vulnerable, because developing kidneys are more susceptible to damage, Dr. Wu says. Fortunately, you can take steps to avoid exposure: Keep it cool. “The key point is ‘temperature,’” Dr. Wu says. Storing fruit at room temperature in a melamine bowl is probably fine, but don’t serve acidic or warm foods or liquids in it (use glass or ceramic instead), and definitely don’t microwave dishes that contain melamine. Both acid and heat cause more melamine to migrate from the dishes to your meal, with the greatest risk at 140 degrees Fahrenheit or above. Upgrade. According to this and previous studies by the same research group, the cheaper the dishes, the more melamine leaches out. So the more you pay, the safer you may be. Questions? Comments? Contact Prevention’s News Team!
