Sugary drinks have levels of plasticizers 100 times higher than those of water

The analysis of 75 beverage samples reveals a greater presence of organophosphate plasticizers in sugary beverages. | Julio Fernandez Arribas

A study by IDAEA-CSIC has analyzed the presence of organophosphate plasticizers in 75 samples of different beverages: water, cola-type soft drinks, juices, wine, and hot drinks. The results show that, on average, sugary beverages have 100 times more concentration of this type of plasticizer than water, which shows the lowest values. The work, published in the Environment International magazine, has identified that plasticizers come both from the packaging and the sugar added to the drinks.

Plasticizers are a class of chemical compounds that are added to plastics to give them the desired flexibility and durability. The most recent studies have shown the toxicity of several organophosphate plasticizers, including neurological damage, endocrine disruption, cancer, and fertility problems.

“Our results show that more than 95% of the beverages have at least one of the 19 organophosphate plasticizers that we analysed, which shows the ubiquity of these compounds and our exposure to them in our day-to-day lives,” explains Julio Fernández Arribas, IDAEA researcher and first author of the study.

The highest levels of contamination have been detected in cola-type sugary soft drinks, with an average concentration of 2876 nanograms per liter (ng/L), and for juices with added sugars (2965 ng/L), while the lowest levels have been found in the water samples (20.7 ng/L).

“One of the most striking results was to observe that sugary beverages had higher levels of plasticizers, especially due to the presence of 2-ethylhexyldiphenyl phosphate (EHDPP),” says the IDAEA researcher Ethel Eljarrat and main author of the study.

Analysis of sugar samples shows elevated levels of EHDPP, corroborating that sugar added to beverages is one of the routes of contamination. It is important to note that the toxicity of EHDPP is related to an increased risk of suffering from some types of cancer, such as breast and uterine cancer.

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Julio Fernández-Arribas, Teresa Moreno, Ethel Eljarrat. Human exposure to organophosphate esters in water and packed beverages. Environment International, 175 (2023): 107936. DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.107936