Phthalates Might Be Making Us Fat – Now Will People Care About These Chemicals Found Almost Everywhere?

Phthalates are chemicals that are just about everywhere in our daily lives. They are in soaps, plastics, and even cosmetics. For years, we’ve been inundated with more research that has been warning us how dangerous phthalates really might be. As Inquisitr reported previously, the U.S. Congress banned six kinds of phthalates from toys eight years ago. More careful consideration is used with items geared directly at children and infants that contain phthalates, but they still surround us. It’s virtually impossible to go a day without contact with phthalates. Despite the research, tests, and warnings that phthalates are detrimental to human health, the general opposition to these chemicals from a majority of Americans amounts to hardly more than a shrug. Phthalates are even in many of our foods.

If you’re eating fast food, you’re probably also eating harmful phthalates https://t.co/qmHRyD9Utb http://pic.twitter.com/6VraambMrW

— Newsweek (@Newsweek) April 15, 2016

New research might finally catch the attention of Americans though. A study of the impact of low-level exposure to butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP) has linked this chemical to something Americans might find upsetting. Phthalates, according to a team of scientists at the University of Georgia (UGA) College of Public Health, might be contributing to the obesity epidemic.

The researchers, let by Lei Yin, created in vitro models and studied how exposure to BBP affects the accumulation of oils and fats within cells. They compared the effects of BBP against the effects of the now-loathed, commonly known bisphenol A (BPA). BPA is of course, an environmental endocrine disruptor that is known to impact, among a host of other bodily processes, the development of fat cells. It turns out the phthalate BBP and BPA have similar effects on cells.

BBP and BBA both proved to increase lipid droplet accumulation in cells, but in cells exposed to BBP, the droplets of fat were actually larger!

Xiaozhong Yu, an assistant professor of environmental health science and co-author on the paper, explained that phthalates are quite possibly making us fatter, even in low doses.

“Obesity is one of the big issues in humans now, and, of course, genetic components can contribute to the development of obesity. However, environmental exposure may also contribute to obesity.”

Yin says that this research doesn’t prove anything difinitively, but plans to further investigate how phthalates and other environmental chemicals might affect obesity rates. She says that she is also interested in finding out if particular plant-based chemicals might offset the effects of the more toxic chemicals we are exposed to everyday from ordinary items and products, Medical News Today reported.

BBP was already known to cause developmental and reproductive toxicity, but no one knew of its link to obesity until recently, the study reported. The authors reported that the current study clearly showed that BBP activated the pathway that caused fat accumulation and that BBP clearly promoted metabolic disturbances.

“Phthalate exposure can be closely associated with the rise of different types of disease development,” Yin said. Now, it’s likely we can add obesity to the list of diseases that can be linked to phthalates. “It could be that some chemicals at a very low dose and over a long period time, which is known as chronic exposure, can cause more harmful diseases or effects.”

Phthalates are used in some food and drink packaging and even in water supply pipes!

BPS, the newer chemical used in many BPA-free products is also associated with health problems. Another recent study suggests that BPS speeds up the development of embryos and disrupts the reproductive system!

Went out to do some grocery Shopping Today Got These two Bpa free Green Infuser water bottles #HappyEarthDay 2 #isf http://pic.twitter.com/h1zpAHTq1g

— NatureLover (@ISF_FLA_CREW) April 23, 2016

“Since BPS is one of the replacement chemicals used in consumer products that are marketed as BPA-free, it is important to examine whether BPS acts as an endocrine-disrupting chemical,” Dr. Ella Atlas of Health Canada said. That research found that the chemical usually used in the BPA-free products is probably also altering the metabolisms in, at least, women and contributing to hormone problems and obesity in women.

[Image via Pixabay]

Phthalates Might Be Making Us Fat – Now Will People Care About These Chemicals Found Almost Everywhere? is an article from: The Inquisitr News