Microwaving Food Effects: Deed Leads to Diabetes, Says Study

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The microwave oven was invented to make lives easier, but a new study reveals that "nuked" food increases the chances of developing diabetes, due to some chemicals.

The toxic chemicals may come from the plastic container that holds the food while it is being microwaved.

"The chemicals enter the body even when not heated, but at much smaller doses," said lead author Leonardo Trasande from the NYU Langone, via New York Daily News. "Heating enhances contamination."

The study, published in the journal Hypertension, investigated phthalates, a group of chemicals used in plastics and vinyl. The researchers studied two kinds of phthalates, di-isononyl phthalate (DINP) and di-isodecyl phthalate (DIDP), which were considered to be "safer" replacements for the dangerous di-2-ethylhexylphlatate (DEHP) compound.

For their study, Trasande and colleagues collected urine samples from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey participants ages 6 to 19 years old to measure their DINP and DIDP levels. They adjusted their results for contributing factors that may increase blood pressure such as physical activity, race, gender, income and diet, to name a few.

In the results, the researchers said in an interview with Medical Research that they found that a "significant association was found between high blood pressure and DINP/DIDP levels in study participants." The researchers added that this did not prove that phthalates singularly cause diabetes but rather contribute to it owing to the fact that high blood pressure is a major factor in diabetes.

"Our research adds to growing concerns that environmental chemicals might be independent contributors to insulin resistance, elevated blood pressure and other metabolic disorders," Trasande said in a press release via Eureka Alert.

Over the last ten years, DEHP was replaced by DINP and DIDP as a "safer" alternative after researchers found that it can cause adverse health effects. According to the press release, it was Trasande's own 2013 research that found DEHP exposure can lead to hypertension in Americans.

"Our study adds further concern for the need to test chemicals for toxicity prior to their broad and widespread use, which is not required under current federal law (the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act)," Trasande added, referring to looking for alternatives for DINP and DIDP.

Medical Daily outlined the many ways that children and pregnant women can lower their exposure to DINP and DIDP:

• Don't use plastic containers or plastic wraps when heating food in the microwave oven.
• Don't put plastic containers in dishwashers if you plan to use it again to avoid plasticizers leaking into food.
• Don't use plastic containers labeled with numbers 3, 6, or 7. These numbers can be found at the bottom of and is indicative of the presence of phthalates in the material.