Trying to Conceive? Stay Away from Bisphenol A

Bisphenol A remains in the IVFConnections.com spotlight, evening though we always actively look everywhere for news to share. Lately, though, BPA keeps popping up so we keep reporting about it.

Recently we reported on the link between BPA exposure in utero and girls' worsening behavior at age 3. The new told you the findings from a University of Cincinnati study: BPA exposure in damages sperm. This latest BPA story relates to female fertility: researchers have found a link between BPA levels found in the urine of women undergoing IVF and implantation failure.

Animal studies have shown that a female's exposure to BPA is related to litter size and implantation in animals, and researchers from Harvard School of Public Health have confirmed that BPA exposure in human females also affects implantation rates during IVF cycles. In a prospective cohort study, researchers quantified the participants' BPA exposure by looking at the concentration of the chemical in their urine. In this study, researchers found a positive, linear dose-response between BPA levels and implantation failure - the more BPA a woman in the study was exposed to, the more likely she was to experience implantation failure.

BPA continues to look like a baddie, and as we find more research related to fertility we will bring it to you. In the meantime, we highly recommend that everyone - including women who are trying to conceive - avoid BPA as much as possible.

The primary source of BPA exposure is through diet. Food and beverages come in contact with the BPA in containers and then leeches into the foods. This happens at a much greater concentration when the food is heated in the BPA-containing plastic packaging. According to the NIH, the most common products leading to BPA exposure include:

• water and infant bottles,
• compact discs,
• impact-resistant safety equipment,
• medical devices, as well as
• coatings of metal products such as food cans, bottle tops, and water supply pipes.

In addition, the Chicago Tribune identified several more "hidden" sources of BPA, including:

• Toilet paper
• Pizza boxes made of recycled cardboard
• Recycled paper
• Credit card receipts
• Wine (fermented in BPA-resin lined vats)
• Beer (likewise)
• Beverage cans
• Organic canned tomatoes
• Common plastic cups used in college cafeterias, and
• Blue-tinted hard plastic 5-gallon drinking water bottles.

O-20 Urinary Bisphenol A and Implantation Failure among Women Undergoing IVF