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George Washington University researchers found potentially harmful chemicals in almost all popular food samples of fast food restaurants in the United States.
In the study of meals they found 10 from 11 chemicals potentially such as phthalates, a group of chemicals used to soften plastics and that can disrupt the endocrine system and have been linked to reproductive problems.
A recent study by New York University researchers indicated that up to 100, 000 Premature deaths in the United States each year could be attributed to exposure to phthalates.
The researchers note that phthalates and other plasticizers are widespread in the foods of US fast food chains such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Domino’s, Taco Bell and Chipotle.
In an earlier analysis, George Washington University researchers found that people who reported eating more fast foods had higher levels of phthalates. The new study collected 64 foods from popular fast food restaurant chains spanning three categories: hamburgers, pizza and Tex-Mex.
In the 81% of samples found phthalates and the 81% contained plasticizer
The researchers bought the fast food foods from different restaurants and ordered three pairs of unused food handling gloves. The team found that 81% of the food samples studied contained a phthalate called DnBP and the 70% contained DEHP. 86% of the foods contained the replacement plasticizer known as DEHT.
Both DnBP and DEHP have been linked in different studies with fertility and reproductive problems in humans . They can also increase the risk of learning, attention and behavior disorders in childhood, according to the research report.
In the case DEHT, more research is still required to determine how it affects health.
Cheeseburgers and chicken burritos with the highest levels of chemicals
Researchers found that foods containing meats, such as cheeseburgers and burritos chicken, had higher levels of the potentially harmful chemicals studied. While cheese pizzas had the lowest levels.
The chemicals may have transferred to food from plastics , sources of which include gloves, industrial tubes, food conveyors, and food wrap packaging in fast food restaurants.
Stronger regulations are needed to help keep these harmful chemicals out of the food supply.
Lariah Edwards, lead author of the recent George Washington University study.
In the study report it indicates that Some phthalates are banned in toys and other products, these chemicals are still used in food packaging materials .
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