Plastics Chemical Linked to Obesity in Kids

HealthDay – 48 mins ago SATURDAY, June 23 (HealthDay News) -- It's hard to imagine a pacifier or a rubber ducky making your child fat.

But new research suggests that chemicals called phthalates, which are found in the plastics that pacifiers and toys are typically made of, may be linked to higher rates of obesity in children.

The chemical, called di-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), is suspected of being able to alter biological functions involved in fat metabolism. In the study, children with the highest DEHP levels had nearly five times the chance of being obese compared with those who had the lowest DEHP levels.

How could a chemical used to soften plastics trigger fat development in a child?

"It may trigger the master regulator of fat creation and lipid metabolism," explained study co-author Dr. Mi-Jung Park, a pediatric endocrinologist and professor at Inje University College of Medicine, in Seoul, South Korea.

DEHP may do two different things that increase fat development, Park said. It may reduce the effect of androgen -- a male sex hormone -- which lowers body-mass index (BMI). It may also disrupt thyroid function, which plays a role in weight gain. Interfering with androgen or thyroid hormones can affect appetite or a person's rate of metabolizing food, she explained.

Other studies have linked phthalates to breast growth in boys, reproductive problems in men and low birth weight.

The researchers measured blood levels of DEHP in 204 children ranging from 6 to 13 years old; 105 were considered obese and 99 were of normal weight.

Children with a higher BMI, a measurement of body fat, had higher DEHP levels. The increased risk of obesity with elevated DEHP levels was not related to the amount of physical activity they got or their daily calorie intake.

The study, scheduled for presentation Saturday at the Endocrine Society's annual meeting in Houston, did not demonstrate a causal relationship between blood levels of DEHP and obesity.

Park said parents should understand that phthalates are virtually everywhere -- in food, water, plastic bags and packaging wraps, cosmetics, lotions, shampoo and toys. Pregnant women, premature infants and young children may be particularly sensitive to the chemical, she said. "Putting hot water or hot food into a plastic container may be dangerous," she added.

Johanna Congleton, senior scientist and toxicologist at the Environmental Working Group in Washington, D.C., recommends avoiding exposure to phthalates. "It's a good precautionary measure, and consumer product manufacturers should phase out the use of such compounds," she said.

Research presented at medical meetings should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

More information

For more on phthalates, go to the Environmental Working Group.

View the Original article

Common Plastics Chemical Might Boost Diabetes Risk

HealthDay – 43 mins ago THURSDAY, April 12 (HealthDay News) -- High blood levels of chemicals called phthalates, which are found in soaps, lotions, plastics and toys, may double the risk for type 2 diabetes among older adults, Swedish researchers say.

"Our study supports the hypothesis that certain environmental chemicals can contribute to the development of diabetes," said lead researcher Monica Lind, an associate professor of environmental medicine in the section for occupational and environmental medicine at Uppsala University.

"Most people come into daily contact with phthalates as they are used as softening agents in everyday plastics and as carriers of perfumes in cosmetics and self-care products," she added.

The study's implications "must be to cut down on plastics and choose self-care products without perfumes," Lind said.

But the research does not prove cause and effect. To find out whether phthalates (pronounced THAL ates) truly are risk factors for diabetes, further studies are needed that show similar associations, she said.

"Experimental studies are also needed regarding what biological mechanisms might underlie these connections," Lind stressed.

The report was published online April 12 and in the June print edition of Diabetes Care.

For the study, Lind's team collected data on more than 1,000 Swedish men and women, age 70, who took part in the Prospective Investigation of the Vasculature in Uppsala Seniors Study.

The researchers measured the participants' blood sugar, insulin levels and levels of toxins from the breakdown of phthalates.

As expected, they found diabetes was more common among those who were overweight and had high cholesterol.

And they also found an association between blood levels of some phthalates and diabetes. That association remained even after taking into account obesity, cholesterol, smoking and exercise.

For people with high phthalate levels, the risk of developing diabetes was about double compared to those with lower levels, the investigators found.

Some phthalates were also linked to disrupted insulin production, the researchers said. Insulin is a hormone that helps deliver blood sugar into the body's cells for energy. Without insulin, or with too little of the hormone, too much sugar stays in the blood, setting the stage for diabetes.

"Even at relatively low levels of phthalate in the blood, the risk of getting diabetes begins to rise," Lind added.

Other studies have linked these chemicals with breast growth in boys and reproductive problems in men, possibly caused by estrogen disruption.

Phthalates are used in hundreds of products, such as toys, vinyl flooring and wall coverings, detergents, lubricating oils, food packaging, pharmaceuticals, blood bags and tubing, according to information from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Personal care products, such as nail polish, hair sprays and shampoos, also contain phthalates.

At present, "the FDA does not have compelling evidence that phthalates, as used in cosmetics, pose a safety risk," according to the FDA website.

In the United States, companies are not required to test the long-term health effects of chemicals before using them in consumer products. Lind said this means the dangers of hazardous chemicals aren't known until they are already widely used.

Lind said the health effects of chemicals should be tested before they reach the consumer market similar to the way drugs get tested before being approved.

"We are looking at a tip of an iceberg," she said in terms of a possible health crisis. "We are just scratching the very top of the iceberg."

The way the system is designed, if phthalates were banned, they would be replaced by other chemicals about which even less is known, Lind said.

According to the Environmental Working Group, a group trying to rid hazardous chemicals from consumer products, there is no practical way to choose phthalate-free products. Sometimes the print on ingredient labels is too small to read, and different names are often used for the same plasticizing chemicals. And some products lack ingredient labels even though they're required by federal regulations.

That said, some of the names to look for in cosmetics, self-care products, solid air fresheners, and scented candles are: mono-methyl phthalate (MMP), mono-ethyl phthalate (MEP) and mono-isobutyl phthalate (MiBP), which are types of the chemicals dimethylphthalate (DMP), diethyl phthalate (DEP) and di-isobutyl phthalate (DiBP). DMP is also used in ink and as a softening agent in plastics.

More information

For more information on phthalates in cosmetics, visit the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

View the Original article