Melamine in bowls seep into bodies
Source: Agencies |
January 24, 2013, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
Melamine, a chemical that sickened and killed babies in China when it tainted baby formula, can also leach off tableware and into food, according to a study.
But researchers, whose results appeared in JAMA Internal Medicine, warned that their findings don't prove that melamine is harmful to people in the amounts detected when study participants ate hot soup from melamine bowls.
Large doses of melamine, which is used in some types of fertilizer and in resin used to make tableware, killed six babies in China and sent thousands more to the hospital with kidney damage in 2008. In high enough quantities, melamine can cause kidney stones and other kidney problems in adults.
"Melamine tableware may release large amounts of melamine when used to serve high-temperature foods," wrote lead researcher Chia-Fang Wu from Kaohsiung Medical University.
Monitored urine
For the study, six people in their 20s ate hot soup for breakfast out of melamine bowls, while another six ate soup from ceramic bowls. Then, the researchers monitored participants' urine for the next 12 hours. Three weeks later, the two groups were reversed.
For the rest of the day, the total melamine excreted in urine was 8.35 micrograms following a melamine bowl breakfast, compared to 1.31 micrograms after breakfast from a ceramic bowl.
The study didn't measure any health effects possibly related to melamine, and it's not clear if those urine levels would lead to any long-term medical problems.
Craig Langman, who studies kidney diseases in Chicago's Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, said that while the study raises interesting questions and concerns, it didn't prove anything. But he also said that research into the chemical's long-term biological effects should continue.
"The babies who were poisoned because of their being young had very low kidney function to begin with," he said. "Clearly, poisoning acutely with this massive overload is different than long-term exposure.
Melamine is approved in the US for use in the manufacturing of some cooking utensils, tableware, plastics and industrial coatings.
But researchers, whose results appeared in JAMA Internal Medicine, warned that their findings don't prove that melamine is harmful to people in the amounts detected when study participants ate hot soup from melamine bowls.
Large doses of melamine, which is used in some types of fertilizer and in resin used to make tableware, killed six babies in China and sent thousands more to the hospital with kidney damage in 2008. In high enough quantities, melamine can cause kidney stones and other kidney problems in adults.
"Melamine tableware may release large amounts of melamine when used to serve high-temperature foods," wrote lead researcher Chia-Fang Wu from Kaohsiung Medical University.
Monitored urine
For the study, six people in their 20s ate hot soup for breakfast out of melamine bowls, while another six ate soup from ceramic bowls. Then, the researchers monitored participants' urine for the next 12 hours. Three weeks later, the two groups were reversed.
For the rest of the day, the total melamine excreted in urine was 8.35 micrograms following a melamine bowl breakfast, compared to 1.31 micrograms after breakfast from a ceramic bowl.
The study didn't measure any health effects possibly related to melamine, and it's not clear if those urine levels would lead to any long-term medical problems.
Craig Langman, who studies kidney diseases in Chicago's Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, said that while the study raises interesting questions and concerns, it didn't prove anything. But he also said that research into the chemical's long-term biological effects should continue.
"The babies who were poisoned because of their being young had very low kidney function to begin with," he said. "Clearly, poisoning acutely with this massive overload is different than long-term exposure.
Melamine is approved in the US for use in the manufacturing of some cooking utensils, tableware, plastics and industrial coatings.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
