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Science

Coffee, Eggs and White Rice Linked To Higher Levels of PFAS in Human Body (theguardian.com) 68

Posted by msmash from the new-scare-unlocked dept.
New research aimed at identifying foods that contain higher levels of PFAS found people who eat more white rice, coffee, eggs and seafood typically showed more of the toxic chemicals in their plasma and breast milk. The Guardian adds: The study checked samples from 3,000 pregnant mothers, and is among the first research to suggest coffee and white rice may be contaminated at higher rates than other foods. It also identified an association between red meat consumption and levels of PFOS, one of the most common and dangerous PFAS compounds. The authors said the findings highlight the chemicals' ubiquity and the many ways they can end up in the food supply.
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Coffee, Eggs and White Rice Linked To Higher Levels of PFAS in Human Body More

Coffee, Eggs and White Rice Linked To Higher Levels of PFAS in Human Body

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  • Coffee: beans, ground, instant, other? (Score:3)

    by fleeped ( 1945926 ) on Thursday July 04, 2024 @12:32PM (#64600787)
    At which point does it get contaminated? Nobody knows. Article doesn't say, besides just "beans, water for brewing, or soil", and that's still vague. I would suspect that grinding your own beans at home might be a bit safer than, say, instant coffee, but that's a wild guess eh?

    • Keurig pods, perchance?

      • Rice in an instant heat package?

        • An interesting question, also was thinking if further there was a difference between that and a rice cooker which is far more common in asian countries but some of those even have a nonstick coating on the bowl as well.

          • I've never understood the point of a rice cooker but this may have to do with the fact that I've only ever cooked a couple cups of rice at a time. It's incredibly easy to just bring liquid to a boil in a sauce pan, pour in rice, cover, and reduce heat to simmer and set a timer for 20 minutes. 2:1 liquid to rice ratio and it comes out more or less perfect every time.

            • I somehow burn it every time like that. A rice cooker often has just a single button. Put water and rice in the bowl, you'll learn your favorite ratio with your machine, press the button, wait. Couldn't be easier. Super consistent.

              • Youâ(TM)re cooking it too hot. Turn heat down to lowest setting when youâ(TM)re cooking it. Once itâ(TM)s at a boil it doesnâ(TM)t take much heat to maintain. I used to use a rice cooker for same reason. Then I learned to cook it on the stove top and now thatâ(TM)s what I do all the time. And it doesnâ(TM)t stick or burn.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by ChoGGi ( 522069 )

                Bring to a boil, then low heat for 20 mins.

              • I somehow burn it every time like that. A rice cooker often has just a single button. Put water and rice in the bowl, you'll learn your favorite ratio with your machine, press the button, wait. Couldn't be easier. Super consistent.

                I've had two different microwave rice cookers, and they give fast, perfect results every time. They're much lighter than electric rice cookers and take up less space. Sadly, they're also made of 100% plastic... :-{

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by erice ( 13380 )

              I've never understood the point of a rice cooker but this may have to do with the fact that I've only ever cooked a couple cups of rice at a time. It's incredibly easy to just bring liquid to a boil in a sauce pan, pour in rice, cover, and reduce heat to simmer and set a timer for 20 minutes. 2:1 liquid to rice ratio and it comes out more or less perfect every time.

              For white rice, I don't see the point either. I don't even use simmer as on an electric stove you can just turn the burner off and it cooks on the residual heat.

              However, for quinoa, rice cookers are awesome. It makes the process totally brainless and messless. Cooking quinoa on the stove requires about 20 minutes of total attention and needs to be served exactly when done. It also sticks to the pot and splatters over the counter. A tall non-stick pot would help the mess part but I have never been able

            • Use an instapot over a rice cooker anymore. Rice turns out far better.

    • Is organic coffee any better?

  • Did they find elevated levels (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Tony Isaac ( 1301187 ) on Thursday July 04, 2024 @12:34PM (#64600789) Homepage

    in the actual foods? Or just in the people who, on surveys, said they ate such foods?

    It strikes me that these are very broad, overlapping categories. For example, lots of people both drink coffee and eat eggs. Did they observe a difference in levels between people who drank coffee but didn't eat eggs, or vice versa? I'll bet many of these people also ate bread, and candy, and sausage, and frozen pizzas, and who knows what else.

    Nutrition science is hard, and lots of studies cut corners and draw conclusions that aren't necessarily supported by the controls, or lack of controls, in the study.

    • in the references section, they're mostly pointing at other studies that did blood tests. specifically this study, it's for breast milk and blood tests.

      obv the researchers have not met someone with a ceramic or glass hario v60 doing paper filter coffee or a french press.

      large roasters usually use all metal roasters in the process. the beans themselves might be delivered packaged in large plastic or burlap bags.

      i think the main culprit is starbucks/peets/dunkin donuts consumers who drink coffee that's pregr

      • All your theories have potential merit. Proving it, or even concluding that any one of the sources of PFAs is "likely" is an entirely different matter. This study certainly didn't prove a link.

      • The other possibility is people who mostly get their coffee from places like Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts and such in paper cups; I'm sure those cups have a PTFE coating on them.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by DarkOx ( 621550 )

        Or it could be that almost all drip coffee mangers / k-cup type machines (including the cups themselves) are plastic and you are mixing high-heat with that during the brewing process.

    • in the actual foods? Or just in the people who, on surveys, said they ate such foods?

      Yes. And by that I mean all of the above and more. Yes there are studies on self reporting of eggs. Yes there are actual studies that show eggs are an easy way of getting PFAS into the body. Yes there are studies on eggs showing they are contaminated with PFAS during farming. In fact there's also guidance in some parts of the world not to actually farm chickens yourself because your area leads to eggs being laid with PFAS levels determined not fit for consumption.

      There's a lot of studies on PFAS right now f

      • Everything you said might indeed be true, but it doesn't help THIS study prove what it purports to prove. THIS study took surveys of pregnant women to see what they ate and drank, and also measured the levels of PFAs in their placentas and blood. There are too many overlapping potential sources in the various foods the women ate, to be able to control for any one of them. You might be very certain in your convictions, but that doesn't make THIS study a good source of information.

  • Giving blood and plasma reduces blood PFAS levels (Score:4, Interesting)

    by schwit1 ( 797399 ) on Thursday July 04, 2024 @12:34PM (#64600795)

    https://theconversation.com/ne... [theconversation.com]

  • Eventually you can't eat anything. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Deal In One ( 6459326 ) on Thursday July 04, 2024 @12:38PM (#64600801)

    Eventually you can't eat anything as everything harms you one way or another :P

    Liquid diets anyone? Or Soylent green maybe? /It's a joke people!

    • Be sure not to breathe anything either. And if you must breathe oxygen, be sure to at least have some antioxidants.

      • Be sure not to breathe anything either. And if you must breathe oxygen, be sure to at least have some antioxidants.

        But breathing causes death. Fact: 100% of all dead people were habitual breathers.

        :-)

    • Soylent green maybe? /It's a joke people!

      In Soviet Russia, soylent joke is people!

    • I know right? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Thursday July 04, 2024 @03:35PM (#64601141)
      It's getting to the point where you can't eat food contaminated with plastic anymore just because it's contaminated with plastic.

      Next thing you know they'll be taking asbestos out of baby formula and that's just crazy. I say we need more asbestos! More asbestos! More asbestos!

    • Soylent green maybe?

      If people contain PFAS, so will soylent green.

  • I know multiple Asian families who eat lots of white rice, and are mostly healthy and trim. Usually a family member is who chubby doesn't put enough vegetables with their (white) rice.

    Brown rice is probably still better, but even with white rice, the Asian diet works better than a typical "American-style" meal.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by znrt ( 2424692 )

      Brown rice is probably still better

      white rice is just what's left when you remove all nutrients from any rice except the carbohidrates in the grain and say merry godbye to all vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, antioxidants and fiber that were in the bran. genetics vary, but the difference is mostly in the processing, and since brown rice processing only removes the husk, it retains most of the bran so is indeed much, much better as a nutrient.

      Asian diet works better than a typical "American-style" meal.

      yeah, their rice is actually the nutritional equivalent of bread or pasta, merely plain ref

    • brown rice, however, has higher levels of arsenic: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10375490/

  • Eggs (Score:3)

    by RobinH ( 124750 ) on Thursday July 04, 2024 @01:18PM (#64600861) Homepage
    Maybe the eggs are related to the non-stick frying pans. I try not to use non-stick, but for eggs it's hard not to. I should try frying them in a stainless steel pan and see how it goes. For coffee it could be that people order them in paper cups that have a plastic coating to make them waterproof, or drink them out of cups with plastic lids, or brew them with single-serve pods that are make out of plastic. It's hard to escape this stuff.

    • Maybe the eggs are related to the non-stick frying pans. I try not to use non-stick, but for eggs it's hard not to. ...

      Try cooking your eggs with coconut oil. The added flavor is subtle, but good, and that's the slipperiest oil I know.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        *vomit*

    • A friend of mine lets the oil get hot enough to sizzle with a drop of water. The eggs won't stick, but I like my eggs undercooked and it cooks them too fast.

    • Re: Eggs (Score:3, Informative)

      by dislexic ( 4751575 )
      Well seasoned cast-iron or carbon steel is as slippery as teflon for eggs.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by br1984 ( 9617674 )
        Exactly this. It doesn't take long for a cast iron pan to become nonstick as long as you never use soap, cleaners or other solvents on it. Just rinse it with water and wipe it, or let some water sit in it for some minutes if anything gets stuck on it, scrape it with a plastic scraper and rinse and wipe it dry. Keep using it, keep oiling it and it will be awesome for eggs in no time. And avoid cooking acidic foods in it (tomatoes etc) which can strip the oily coating.

    • Maybe the eggs are related to the non-stick frying pans.

      Rice is a similar case. I've tried to find a rice cooker that doesn't have non-stick coating (read: PFAS) and as far as I can tell, there are none.

      • I found https://www.vermicular.us/prod... [vermicular.us] enamel-coated cast iron rice pot. The FAQ for one of their products read "Is the pan non-stick? -- The Vermicular Frying Pan is enamel-coated, and if preheated properly, food will not stick to the pan." The fact that they do not say "it is non-stick" and that the user needs to follow a specific pre-heating procedure that needs an explanation page 45 of the user manual hints that they are not using chemicals. Their shopping page has a Question section where they seem

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Ichijo ( 607641 )

        Tatung and Aroma make rice cookers with stainless steel bowls.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by RobinH ( 124750 )
        We make rice in a stainless steel pot multiple times a week: 1 cup of water, bring to boil, set to simmer, add half a cup of rice, set the timer for 20 minutes... perfect rice every time, and it never sticks to the pot.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Saffaya ( 702234 )

      The trick with eggs on stainless steel (with oil) is to have the pan hot enough that the egg white wriggles when put in it. That way it won't stick when you take it out.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by PPH ( 736903 )

      Cook them in their own shell.

    • I use stainless steel with a little butter - works great. Much better than non-stick.
  • Die PEASANTS! Your cheap abundant food supply is making it really difficulty to rid our planet of you.

  • The full study results are behind a paywall. Does anyone know how much higher their PFAS levels were?

  • Pots, pans, kitchen utensils are all sources of these chemicals.

  • Instead of running through The Guardian, which has officially rejected the tenants of journalism and proclaimed itself a propaganda outlet?

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