A research team from National Cheng Kung University has found that eating hot food or beverages from plastic cups, bowls and bags could lead to early puberty in young girls and feminization in young boys.
In its three-year study, the team studied 71 sexually precocious girls aged two to eight, university Department of Environmental and Occupational Health professor Lee Ching-chang (李俊璋) said.
The factors leading to sexual precocity could include genetics, obesity, diet, pressure, sexual contact and environmental factors, with the latter mainly linked to plasticizers.
The study found that exposure to hot substances increases the level of plasticizers that melt into the item being consumed from a container, Lee said.
The girls in the study showed no signs of illness, but developed breasts. A common link was their exposure to environmental factors.
“Most of the girls drink tea or hot soybean milk from plastic cups almost daily,” Lee said.
One girl in the study slept in a room with her parents that was filled with perfumes and plasticizers are a common additive in the perfumes, he said.
Foreign studies have indicated that the ingestion of plasticizers increases the risk of boys developing feminine traits and girls entering puberty early, with the situation in young girls especially serious.
Most of the plasticizers found in children’s bodies come from foods they consume, and hot food in plastic cups, bowls or bags risks increasing the rate of plasticizers melting into food by a factor of two or three, he said.
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