The gesture is automatic for millions of people who get up in the morning: take a coffee capsule, put it in the coffee maker and press the button to have hot coffee in a few seconds. However, this convenience can have a hidden cost to our health. This is something to what Nicolás Olea concludesprofessor emeritus at the University of Granada, who has issued an alert about the high exposure we face in endocrine disruptors.
What are disruptors? After all, they are chemical substances that are actually present in a large number of products that we consume on a daily basis. As their name indicates, they have a direct relationship with the endocrine system. by altering its functioning. Specifically, its objective is hormones, those substances that They act as messengers within the body to give messages between cells, and that with these disruptors you can end up giving signals that are not true.
They are present in many products. food products, bottles and plastic cups, tea bagsmicrowave popcorn, the containers or even the sun creams They have this type of substances that are the order of the day right now and that directly attack our body.
The consequences. For the professor, the effects are clear: they alter the thyroid, promote obesity, diet or even infertility. All this documented with different essays in which it is directly pointed out that the lack of fertility in Europe It could be due precisely to this poor quality of semen or ovarian reserve as a result of the high combination of different endocrine disruptors that we have in our body.
And precisely women can be more affected due to the great variability of hormones that they have in their body throughout their lives, since the hormonal cycle in a teenager is not the same as in a pregnancy.
The coffee problem. Once we have all this clear, we return to the classic coffee capsule that we use every morning. In this case we prepare it with high pressure and high temperature to obtain a good result. The problem is that with this high temperature the plastic from which the capsule is made can melt and end up with a coffee riddled with microplastics that contribute to exposure to endocrine disruptors. A plastic that is usually polystyrene and epoxy resin that acts as glue.
But it is not something that is limited to the consumption of coffee capsules, it can also happen with plastic cups if a very hot liquid is poured or in plastic bottles that are reused.
Why are they allowed? If it is so bad to consume this type of product, the question is obligatory. In this case, the professor points out that right now there is no clear regulation on endocrine disruptors. Where much emphasis is placed is whether a particular chemical compound is categorized as carcinogenic, where a quick ban is applied. But if we talk about disruptors, the truth is that there are more legal loopholes, unless it is decreed as toxic for reproduction where you can choose to limit it in the market.
The cocktail effect. Although the industry argues that the quantities released by a single capsule are minimal and within the law, experts like Olea warn of two key problems: accumulation and the “cocktail effect.” And the effects of these substances are seen above all in the long term in the body and with chronic exposure. That is why it points out that current legislation does not take into account this combined effect of all sources of exposure to apply regulation.
Because not only is it a coffee capsule in isolation, but the pesticides that a food may have, the chemicals in the cosmetics that we put on our faces or even the plastic of the container where we heat up the macaroni to eat.
Other dangerous situations. Because indeed, the coffee capsule is not the most striking thing that the expert has commented on in this case, since the interior of a brand new car is also dangerous for our body. Although many people love the smell that remains in the cabin when it is new, the reality is that it is loaded with different chemicals such as phthalates, phosphorus or bisphenols. Very volatile substances that appear especially when the car has been in the sun for a long time and that can end up in our body.
Images | Jisu Han Robina Weermeijer
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