Cooking and eating more meals at home may keep harmful chemicals at bay, suggests new research.
A new study explains why eating more homemade meals could be better for people’s health.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of chemicals that humans have created. They are in packaged foods, household products, kitchen appliances, and contaminated water, among other sources.
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), research has found links between PFAS and reproductive and developmental problems, liver and kidney disease, adverse effects on the immune system, and carcinogenic effects in rodents.
PFAS do not break down and, therefore, build up with time. Across most studies, a common conclusion has been that PFAS levels have links with high cholesterol in humans.
Now, new research in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives adds to these previous findings, suggesting that people who eat out more often are more likely to have higher PFAS levels in their blood.
The findings fall in line with recent research that found PFAS to be very common in fast food packaging. Researchers at the Silent Spring Institute in Newton, MA, conducted both this previous study and the new one.
