Polycarbonate bottles release the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) into any liquid stored in them, with the result that when people drink from the bottles their urine contains more BPA - two-thirds more in participants who drank for just a week from polycarbonate bottles, according to research by the Harvard School of Public Health.

In the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), researchers report a significant relationship between urine concentrations of the environmental estrogen bisphenol A (BPA) and cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and liver-enzyme abnormalities.

New research from the University of Cincinnati (UC) implicates the primary chemical used to produce hard plastics—bisphenol A (BPA)—as a risk factor for metabolic syndrome and its consequences. Also see Yale University research on plastic bottle chemical and tissue danger.

When it comes to Bisphenol A (BPA) exposure from polycarbonate plastic bottles, it’s not whether the container is new or old but the liquid’s temperature that has the most impact on how much BPA is released, according to University of Cincinnati (UC) scientists.

Experiments in animals have provided additional and tantalizing evidence that what a pregnant mother eats can make her offspring more susceptible to disease later in life.