(CBS NEWS) -- Melamine, a chemical found in bowls, plates and other tableware may
leach into our food and make its way into our bodies, potentially
raising risks for health problems.
That's what a new study of
soup-eaters suggests. Taiwanese researchers enlisted a group of 12
healthy men and women who ate noodle soup in either a bowl made of
ceramic or one made of melamine. They found measurable levels of the
chemical additive in the urine of those eating out of the melamine bowl.
amount of melamine released into food and beverages from melamine
tableware varies by brand, so the results of this study of one brand may
not be generalized to other brands," wrote the study's authors, led by
Dr. Chia-Fang Wu, a researcher at Kaohsiung Medical University in
Taiwan. "Although the clinical significance of what levels of urinary
melamine concentration has not yet been established, the consequences of
long-term melamine exposure still should be of concern," they
The study was published Jan. 21 in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Melamine is a flame-retardant chemical used to make adhesives,
industrial coatings and certain types of plates, cooking utensils and
other plastic products. The chemical made headlines in 2008 when some
China manufacturers of infant formula added melamine to watered-down
milk to trick tests measuring protein. Some 300,000 babies became sick
after consuming the tainted formula and milk, and six died.
chemical has also been linked to kidney and bladder stones
(urolithiasis), kidney failure and even cancer in animal studies,
according to the World Health Organization, but research on human exposure is lacking.
participants were randomly assigned to eat soup out of either a
melamine bowl or ceramic bowl, then after a three-week period, were
asked to switch. Their urine samples were collected about 12 hours after
eating. The researchers found on overage, people who ate out of
melamine bowls had 8.35 micrograms of the chemical in their urine,
compared to 1.31 micrograms of the chemical found after eating from a
Dr. Kenneth Spaeth, director of the Occupational
and Environmental Medicine Center at North Shore University Hospital in
Manhasset, N.Y., tells CBSNews.com that melamine may leach out of
tableware if the food is especially acidic, tableware is damaged and if
the products are used when serving or reheating hot foods.
who was not involved in the study, said it would be an "overreaction"
to tell people to avoid all melamine plates and dishes, since the study
did not look at safety and toxicity of the product. However, the study
did suggest people eating from the products are getting exposed to the
chemical, he said.
"It's a pretty strong link to see high levels
after that," said Spaeth. ""It's reasonable to have some concerns of
what exposure could be happening, and the impact it could have on human
Whereas other chemicals that may enter our bodies through food
-- like BPA (bisphenol A) and phthalates -- are more ubiquitous in the
environment, Spaeth said melamine exposure is often more restricted to
certain types of containers or tableware that can be avoided.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says
previous tests suggest the amount of melamine that gets into a drink
like orange juice is 250 times lower than the level the agency has
concluded is acceptable in foods other than infant formula. The FDA adds
that more exposure is possible when highly acidic foods are heated in
"Only ceramic or other cookware which specifies
that the cookware is microwave-safe should be used," according to the
FDA. "The food may then be served on melamine-based tableware."