Can microwave popcorn cause infertility?

Perflurooctanoic acid (PFOA), also known as C8 or perflurooctanoate, can be found in just about anywhere and in every parts of the world. One of the major industrial uses of PFOA is as a water and oil repellent on fabrics, leather and waxed floors. It has been detected in waste, stain-resistant carpets, carpet cleaning liquids, dust around the house, water, food and microwave popcorn bags. DuPont has also for many years and continues today, to use this chemical to make Teflon and other non-stick pans and cooking wares.

Certain food products contain or release PFOA as an unintended by product. PFOA is an unintended by product of flurotelomers, which is present in the lining of microwave popcorn bags. It helps prevent butter and oil from leaking, but this chemical will vaporize into your popcorn when placed in the microwave. It is believed that these chemicals will stay in your body for years and will continue to accumulate. Flurotelomer coatings are also used in fast food wrappers, candy wrappers, pizza box liners and food contact papers. Microwave popcorn bags contain 6 - 290 parts per billion PFOA. It is estimated that microwave popcorn could account for 20% of the PFOA levels measured in individuals consuming 10 bags a year if 1% of the fluorotelomers are metabolized to PFOA.

In 2009, a study from UCLA Researchers showed that infertility is linked to blood serum levels of PFOA. This study has shown that PFOA is linked to infertility in women and men. In humans, PFOA is measured in parts per billions. Women who participated in the study had PFOA levels in their blood that ranged from less than 1 part per billion to 41.5 parts per billion. The levels of exposure in humans vary widely. On average, research shows that most people have about 5 parts per billion. While most Americans might have on average 5 parts per billion of PFOA present in their blood serum, individuals occupationally exposed to PFOA have had blood serum levels over 100,000 parts per billion. Women who had large amounts of PFOA in their blood were more than twice as likely to have taken more than a year to get pregnant or to need infertility treatment compared to those with lower levels of PFOA. PFOA has also been linked to decreased sperm quality in men which is a major contributor to male infertility.

These recent findings definitely warrant more research to be done in this area so that necessary risk warnings can be placed alerting consumers and especially couples trying to conceive. In the meantime, you may want to consider air-popped popcorn.