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Study finds billions of nanoplastics released when microwaving containers

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Re: Study finds billions of nanoplastics released when microwaving containers

#281

Post by sfn42 »

veave wrote: post #236
XorNot wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Overweight and obese men are more likely to have lowered sperm counts[1] and obesity has tripled since 1970[2]. [1] https://www.healthymale.org.au/news/obesity-overweight-can-i... [2] https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and...

Surely it cannot be that hard to control for weight when doing a study on testosterone amounts in the body? i.e. we have half the sperm, but that's overall - do people who have a healthy weight also have half the sperm?

These are the problems that arise when everyone and their moms start talking about scientific studies this way.

We don't have enough information. We don't know how they collected their data, we don't know how they analyzed it, even if we did most of us don't know enough to judge those methods etc.

Most "science" is honestly worthless crap done by some random person mainly because they want a PhD or are trying to pad their publication count. They look for some arbitrary thing to test, half-assedly design a study, collect as little data as they can get away with, do a little p-hacking and such to make sure the results are significant (otherwise the time was wasted) then they publish.

Re: Study finds billions of nanoplastics released when microwaving containers

#282

Post by xapata »

awb wrote: post #204
cj wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a parent, but guessing glass is bad because kids tend to throw things and glass is breakable.

I would use glass bottles to feed my kids, but I always held the bottle because the glass gets incredibly hot. I would wrap a towel around it to make it safe for me to hold. By the time they could hold their own bottle we used plastic both for safe surface temperatures on the bottle and in case they threw it or dropped it as you mentioned.

The milk doesn't need to be that hot. Warm is fine, and if the bottle is that hot, I'd worry that the milk is too hot to drink.

Re: Study finds billions of nanoplastics released when microwaving containers

#283

Post by [deleted] »

chrisco255 wrote: post #98

I'm one of the most skeptical people when it comes to these types of claims. I think the effects are being exaggerated. However, I've recently begun to replace all plastic containers and dishware from my kitchen with stainless steel and glass. Drinks taste better in glass anyways, and steel is a good non-fragile alternative. And I cook in cast iron. It's almost impossible to avoid plastic, and I'm not religious about…

[deleted]

Re: Study finds billions of nanoplastics released when microwaving containers

#284

Post by droopyEyelids »

One factor to consider is that "plastic" is almost as generic a term as "material"

Most consumer plastics are low grade polymers that, in their pure state, resemble glass fiber. They're only made useful through the addition of plasticizers (flexibility), flame retardants (increase melting point, reduce chance to burn), stiffeners (durability), colorants, antioxidants, fillers (reduce cost and change density), blowing agents (foam plastics like polystyrene), and more.

These additives are responsible for most of the negative health outcomes, and many of the remaining problems (like microplastics) stem from the unstable nature of the base polymer that these additives try to address.

These additives and the poor properties of the original material are also a problem in industry, where the financial problems that stem from them can't be swept under te rug like they can with human health or environmental impact.

To address that industry has several grades of plastic, some you're familiar with, but there are advanced plastics like PEEK and PEI that we don't see in consumer products yet. As you move up in sophistication to materials like PEEK and PEI, they inherently have the properties we associate with the chemical cocktail commonly referred to as "plastic"

https://i.imgur.com/NwqhfVl.png

This means that they're more stable in almost all dimensions and in a wide range of temperatures, and don't leech additives because there are no additives in them.

AND the good news is that you can buy food storage products made of advanced plastic, namely PEI. https://www.webstaurantstore.com/cambro-66hp150-h-pan-1-6-si... You can actually cook in these up to 300°f without leeching materials into your food. It's really awesome

Re: Study finds billions of nanoplastics released when microwaving containers

#285

Post by balaji1 »

sfn42 wrote: post #270
balaji1 wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's nothing to suggest it's plastics in particular Sometimes wonder if these arguments are just devil’s advocating. I mean do you avoid heating food in plastic for you and yours? Or are you so scientific that you believe it’s fine until proven otherwise? Said another way, if you were to bet money, which way would you bet - that plastics are benign?

I'm not OP but yeah I assume it's fine until proven otherwise. Why wouldn't I? Otherwise where does it end? What other things should I assume are dangerous despite no evidence? Or are you saying I should latch on to whatever baseless hysteria is popular at the moment? I'm not a betting man. I think plastics have been around for a long time and as far as I know we haven't proven that they have a negative effect. If th…

> Honestly if you drink alcohol and you worry about microplastics you're just hypocritical

That’s correct. Some people feel powerless to address the bigger elephants in the room.

Being obsessively anti-plastic (or anything) shouldn’t be a coping mechanism (but that’s what it is, not hypocrisy).

But I’m suggesting that as a society, we can easily have the collective will to uncover and address issues - more research on plastic, more education on alcohol, etc.

Because we know what short term thinking unregulated actors can do, intentionally or unintentionally.

Re: Study finds billions of nanoplastics released when microwaving containers

#286

Post by unsupp0rted »

surge wrote: post #277
Aurornis wrote: post #35

> Rather than introduce just the number of particles released by one container, the researchers instead exposed the cells to particle concentrations that infants and toddlers might accumulate over days or from multiple sources. > After two days, just 23% of kidney cells exposed to the highest concentrations had managed to survive So they used concentrations that they believe toddlers might accumulate over two days an…

My wife pointed out and I feel dumb for not realizing it because I know this myself, you never heat baby food much past 30 seconds, certainly not for 3 minutes at highest setting. Babies generally eat baby food at room temperature to body temperature, and anything outside that is considered extreme to a baby's sensitive nervous system, not to mention you wouldn't want to risk lava spots that might burn their mouths.…

I wonder how it went when our ancestors heated food for babies to eat on a burning camp fire? Was that a factor in high child mortality?

Re: Study finds billions of nanoplastics released when microwaving containers

#288

Post by rcme »

goodpoint wrote: post #243
rcme wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think plastic is safe and avoid it whenever possible, but an argument for its safety is that it has been widely used for a hundred years and we still don't have many direct causal links between plastic and health problems.

> we still don't have many direct causal links between plastic and health problems. On the contrary.

Care to provide some examples?

Re: Study finds billions of nanoplastics released when microwaving containers

#289

Post by dmalvarado »

Man, I wish we didn't have so much plastic, but I do what I can, and that includes never microwaving anything in plastic. If it's a microwave dinner (generally the ones I like are in paper trays) I pop it onto a plate and cover it with a paper towel.

I'm trying to find a solution to my Aeropress that tastes as good. Taking suggestions? (I've tried Chemex and french press, haven't been able to get the same flavor)

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