Could Food Packaging be Effecting Your Health?
Packing could be leaching nano-particles into the foods we eat.
There has been a lot of talk lately about our gut health. Gut health involves the natural "good bacteria" in our gut and how it interacts with the food we eat. When we have a healthy gut out bodies are more able to fight off infection, and absorb nutrients that our bodies need to function and thrive. But what happens to those mechanisms when exposed to harmful nano-particles often found in the packaging our food comes in.
A study out of Binghamton University shows our food packaging could be affecting the cells in our small intestine, responsible for the absorption of nutrients. The affects of Zinc Oxide in amounts comparable to those that would be found in our food packaging have been shown to spark an inflammation response and decrease the surface area of micro-villi. These results have only been found in a lab setting and long term health effects are not known at this time. Scientists are now studying the effects in animals to see how it compares with their initial research results and if those results can be found in humans as well.
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