Today, like every day, you started your morning with tea and packaged toast. Breakfast tasted like packaged bread with jam packed in plastic containers. Sipped tea with packed snacks in the office. The lunch we ate in the afternoon was homemade, but the ice cream we ate with it was taken out of a packaging box. How routine and normal it all seems.
But do you know that, the packaging food that we use in our daily life can give birth to breast cancer in our body. Yes, a recent research has confirmed that every day we knowingly or unknowingly include 76 such chemicals in our diet, which promote breast cancer. Breast cancer is a silent killer. Millions of people lose their lives every year due to this and many cases go unreported.
Recently a study was published in the world famous journal 'Frontiers'. The study shows that 189 cancer-causing chemicals have been found in food contact materials used for food packaging, 76 of which are known to be entering our bodies. It also contains dangerous chemicals such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), bisphenols and phthalates. This is extremely dangerous for the human body.
Not only this, another study published in the 'Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology' by the Switzerland-based Food Packaging Forum Foundation revealed that more than 3,600 chemicals used in food packaging have been found in the human body, of which about 100 chemicals are harmful. Very dangerous for human health.
So today In 'health water' We will tell you about ways to avoid cancer-causing chemicals found in food packaging. You will also know that-
- How dangerous is this to human life?
- What do experts say about this?
- What do breast cancer statistics say in India?
Earlier we have told you about breast cancer in detail. So here we will discuss only packaging food.
Why are packaged foods dangerous?
We often use packaged food without any thought in our daily routine and consider it safe, but it is very dangerous for our health. Because most of the food packaging materials contain plastic elements and dangerous chemicals, which enter the body through food and invite many serious diseases like breast cancer.
Avoidance of food chemicals To avoid chemicals in packaged food, first of all you have to be health conscious. Avoid consuming any packaged food items. Do not use plastic utensils to prepare food. In the graphic below, we are telling you some tips to avoid food packaging chemicals.
13 million people die worldwide every year due to environmental toxins.
Environmental toxins are also one of the main causes of diseases. Let's find out what environmental toxins are and why they are so dangerous. Environmental toxins are natural and man-made chemicals that can mimic or interfere with the body's hormones. This is known as the endocrine system. These include naturally occurring compounds lead, mercury, radon, formaldehyde, benzene, and cadmium, and man-made chemicals such as BPA, phthalates, and pesticides.
These endocrine system disruptors are found in many of the everyday products we use. These include some plastic bottles and containers, food, detergents, flame retardants, toys, beauty products and pesticides. Each of these toxins affects our body in different ways. They stop our body from working and endanger our health, unbalance our hormones and can even reduce life expectancy. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 13 million people die worldwide every year due to environmental toxins. Learn about diseases caused by environmental toxins in the graphic below.
Ways to reduce exposure to environmental toxins We cannot completely control our environment, but we can reduce risk by being aware of the difficulties we face. Learn about this in the following pointers.
- Wash your hands thoroughly.
- You cannot completely eliminate plastic, but you can take some steps to reduce your use of plastic.
- Eat a plant-based diet.
- Avoid ready meals.
- Avoid artificial fragrances. Like perfume, nail polish, scented beauty products etc.
- Wash all fruits and vegetables thoroughly to avoid exposure to pesticides.
- You can try growing your own fruits and vegetables at home.
- Drink your tap water after filtering it.
- Harsh chemical sanitation products can do more damage than just cleaning your home.
- Make your own cleaner with natural household staples like vinegar and baking soda.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
