The chemical melamine, which has been blamed for infant death in China when it contaminated baby milk, can also leak from dishes and other tableware into food, especially when eaten hot, according to a new Taiwanese scientific study. However, the scientists clarified that their study does not prove that melamine is really harmful in the amounts detected in volunteers who ate hot soup from a bowl of melamine.The researchers, led by Chia-Fang of Taiwan's Kaohsiung Medical University, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association "JAMA Internal Medicine", according to Reuters, that " melamine, when used to serve hot food '.
Taiwanese scientists asked six volunteers aged 20 to 27 to eat a hot soup (with an initial temperature of 90 degrees Celsius) from a melamine bowl, while six others ate from a ceramic bowl. The researchers then analyzed urine samples from 12 people. In the next phase, the two groups of six people exchanged the utensils from which they ate the soup, followed by a urine test again.
The analysis showed that in the urine of those who had eaten from a melamine dish, there were on average 8,35 micrograms of melamine compared to 1,31 micrograms in the urine of those who had eaten from the ceramic utensils.
The researchers did not study the possible health effects of the increased presence of melamine, nor is it clear whether and to what extent these levels of the substance in the urine lead to long-term health problems, while it is not known to what extent the body retains increased melamine in the long run.
Large doses of melamine - used in some utensils, plastics, industrial coatings and fertilizers - were blamed for the deaths of six babies in China in 2008 and sent to the hospital about 50.000 more due to kidney damage. In low doses, but for a long time, melamine can cause kidney stones and other nephrological problems in both children and adults.
However, kidney specialist Craig Langman of the Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago said that the Taiwanese study, while raising interesting questions and concerns, did not really prove anything. However, he said that studies on the long-term biological effects of melamine on the human body should be continued.
"Babies (s.s. in China) who became infected had very low kidney function due to their young age. It is certain that a sudden infection from an excessive amount of melamine is different from a long-term exposure to it." But as a precaution, he said, anyone with a choice could avoid buying melamine cookware, which reacts specifically to certain acidic foods and microwave ovens.