Is BPA and canned food safe during pregnancy?

What does the evidence say about BPA and canned food during pregnancy?

1. The FDA's current position, based on its most recent safety assessment, is that BPA is safe at the levels currently occurring in foods, and a four-year agency review of more than 300 studies completed in 2014 found nothing prompting a revision of that assessment. 1
2. The FDA amended its food additive regulations to no longer provide for BPA-based materials in baby bottles, sippy cups, and infant formula packaging after those uses were abandoned by industry. 1
3. Diet is the primary route of BPA exposure for most people, with BPA leaching into food from the protective epoxy resin linings of cans and from polycarbonate tableware, storage containers, and bottles, and the degree of leaching depends more on temperature than on how old the container is. 2
4. NIEHS lists concrete exposure-reduction steps: do not microwave polycarbonate plastic food containers, reduce use of canned foods, and choose glass, porcelain, or stainless steel especially for hot food or liquids. 2
5. Across 25 studies in a systematic review, 14 reported impaired fetal growth, with nine showing a statistically significant negative association with at least one growth indicator, and the authors identified the first half of pregnancy as the likely window of increased vulnerability. 3

Is BPA and canned food safe in each trimester?

• First trimester. Early pregnancy is where the review evidence is least reassuring. A systematic review of 25 studies found 14 reporting impaired fetal growth, and the authors concluded the first half of pregnancy is highly likely to be the window of greatest vulnerability, recommending exposure be as limited as possible then.
• Second trimester. Small swaps do most of the work. Choose glass jars, cartons, or frozen versions where they exist, rinse canned beans, and move hot food out of plastic and into ceramic or glass. None of this needs to be perfect to lower the average.
• Third trimester. Heat drives leaching more than container age does, so the practical third-trimester habits are the same ones that make sense anyway: do not microwave polycarbonate containers, and pour hot liquids into glass or stainless steel rather than plastic. Ask your clinician if you have specific occupational exposure concerns.