Know the dangers of keeping receipts in your wallet

Are you one of those people who often keep shopping receipts? In fact, collecting groceries is not good for the health of the body. What are the dangers? Why shouldn't grocery receipts be kept in your wallet for too long?

Apparently, grocery receipts contain poison

Not many people know that grocery receipts contain substances that are harmful to the body. These substances are BPA or Bisphenol A.

BPA is a chemical compound commonly used to harden plastics. You can find these chemicals in plastic food containers, plastic bottles, and shopping paper receipts.

In studies involving experimental animals, BPA was found to interfere with the function of endocrine hormones. This is because the content in BPA has the same effect as the hormone estrogen which can cause changes in the prostate gland and breast tissue.

Although the adverse effects of BPA have only been proven in animals, the researchers suggest it is best to stay away from things that contain BPA.

As reported by the Plastic Pollution Coalition, the BPA in the receipt paper can interfere with the reproductive system in men and women. This can occur as a result of absorbing these estrogen-like chemicals into your skin.

If you often keep shopping receipts in your wallet or pants pocket, risks that can occur include:

• Breast cancer
• Prostate cancer
• Diabetes
• Obesity

This is evidenced by a study from three countries, namely Brazil, Spain and France. It turns out, even in very small doses, there is evidence to suggest that BPA in shopping receipts can trigger cancer.

The BPA in grocery receipts can absorb the skin

After investigating, it turns out that the BPA in your shopping receipt is not chemically bound. Therefore, it is very easy for you to be exposed to toxins from a receipt. Starting from touching it directly, being exposed through the money in your wallet with your shopping receipt, to your groceries.

BPA is processed in the liver to form bisphenol A glucoronide and most of it is excreted in the urine. The phenolic structure of BPA has been shown to interact with estrogen and can adversely affect the hormones possessed by these women.

Therefore, these substances help trigger endocrine disorders, including making men and women infertile.

Several studies have revealed that people who frequently touch shopping receipts, such as cashiers, actually get higher concentrations of BPA than others. This was found in their urine ratio when examining this issue.

In addition, exposure to BPA also affects the frequency and hygiene of one's hands. The cashier's hand that worked more than ten hours was found to be 71 mg of BPA. This amount is far more than in the hands of ordinary people who are only exposed to 7.1 - 42.6 mg per day.

Small levels of BPA can still pose a health risk

As reported by Web MD, a recent study revealed that the use of low doses of BPA actually affected the biological health of experimental animals. Although it is said to be used in safe doses, using low doses of BPA can still lead to breast cancer and other diseases.

This research was conducted for 2 years by giving BPA and the hormone estrogen to 4000 mice. All mice were given the same dose before they gave birth. Some of them continue to be given BPA until the end of their lives, some are given only until they are no longer breastfeeding.

The lowest dose given to the mice was 2.5 micrograms a day and the highest dose was 25,000 micrograms. The results are quite surprising. The rats that were still young and given such low doses until they were no longer breastfeeding were found to have a high potential for breast cancer.

On the other hand, female rats also showed changes in the health of their liver and kidneys. Changes also occurred in male rats. Their prostate and chest showed quite drastic changes after being given a fairly low dose of BPA.

Therefore, it can be concluded that the use of even the lowest dose of BPA can still affect your health. However, further research is still needed, whether BPA should really not be used again or are there other alternatives. Now, is it clearer isn't the danger of keeping a receipt with BPA on it?

Not only shopping receipts, BPA can be found on other papers

Not only on shopping receipts, you can also find BPA on concert and airplane tickets. Therefore, it is very difficult to avoid these dangerous chemicals because they are so ubiquitous. In addition, it is the people who are most at risk of being exposed to the BPA found in these various papers.

Actually, there is a special way to find out whether your shopping receipt contains BPA or not. Try to scratch the side of your receipt. If there are dark marks, it could be that your receipt contains BPA.

What should be done to overcome the dangers of keeping receipts in your wallet?

If you don't want to be exposed to the toxic BPA that's on your groceries, start throwing the paper in the trash so that it doesn't stay there long. In addition, there are a number of things that you should pay attention to in order to reduce the risk of the dangers of saving shopping receipts.

• If possible, there is no need to receive a receipt
• Try to request your shopping receipt in digital form. Like e-mail or via SMS.
• If you have to receive a receipt, try to touch the back as it usually contains less BPA.
• Don't put it in your wallet, but in an envelope that has nothing in it. The poison BPA can stick to your money, making it dangerous to keep it there.
• Wash hands with soap shortly after receiving the shopping receipt. Do not use chemical hand sanitizers to clean it.

Well, now you know that there are many dangers posed by keeping receipts in your wallet. The BPA content in it can have a bad impact on your health, so it would be nice not to receive shopping receipts in order to minimize the diseases they cause.