Researchers from the Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto (ISPUP) warned this Tuesday, on the occasion of World Food Safety Day, about the need for consumers to be aware of the “recycling number” of the containers where they store food.
Speaking to Agência Lusa, Duarte Torres, one of the researchers involved in the FOCACCia project, which aimed to assess exposure to chemical hazards in the food chain and contaminants that come from packaging, warned this Tuesday about the need to that consumers are aware of the recycling number of the containers where they store and heat food, because packages numbered seven, six and three “may contain contaminants that migrate to food”.
“You always have to take into account and understand what material that container is made of,” stressed the researcher, noting that this information is provided by the recycling number (a number that normally appears in the recycling triangle), and that “reduce exposure” to compounds such as phthalatesused to give flexibility to plastics and that can migrate from materials to the atmosphere, food or drinks.
On the date that World Food Safety Day is celebrated, Duarte Torres also warned about the need to avoid consuming the “badly burned or charred” parts meat, fish and eggs, as they can concentrate “undesirable” chemical compounds such as heterocyclic amines, which are formed during cooking at high temperatures and for long periods.
“The message is to avoid excessive processing of foods, which must be handled with care. When badly burned parts appear in a food, that part should not be eaten,” she observed.
The researcher also recommended substituting processed and ultra-processed foods, the result of formulations that contain “a wide range of ingredients, many of them additives”, for less processed foods.
For Lusa, Duarte Torres highlighted the importance of having a “varied diet, based on poorly processed products”, although it seems like a “common” recommendation.
“A varied diet, based on less processed products, are basic principles with multiple benefits and we must start from an early age,” he added.
On the occasion of World Food Security Day, the researchers of the FOCACCia project have today published a brochure and a ebookmaterials developed together with the Economic and Food Safety Authority (ASAE) and the General Directorate of Health (DGS), which contain advice and recommendations for consumers.
“The brochure contains some tips for the end consumer and some practical advice, while the ebookIn addition to these tips, there is a more detailed description of the project and its result”, explained Diogo Torres.
Funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), the FOCACCia project sought to understand the exposure of food additives and contaminants, as well as dietary patterns with higher levels of these compounds in the metabolic and cognitive health of children and adolescents.
Based on data from the ISPUP Generation XXI ‘cohort’, the researchers found that children with higher exposure to bisphenol (BPA) were those with higher levels of adiposity, that is, higher body mass index, body fat, and waist circumference. waist, as well as higher insulin levels at age 13 and more likely to belong to a higher cardiovascular risk class.
At the same time, the team concluded that a increased consumption of unprocessed foods at the age of seven years showed to have a Favorable effect on cardiometabolic health of children at 10 years of age.
On the other hand, children who at the age of four belonged to the pattern of “energy dense foods”that is, they consumed more sweets, soft drinks, snacks, pizzas, red and processed meats, compared to children from a healthy pattern had more adiposity at seven and ten years old.
Source: Observadora
