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Chemicals in clothing and furniture lead to obesity
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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A new study conducted by representatives of the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University (Atlanta, Georgia, USA) and published in the journal Prospects for Environmental Wellbeing found that babies born to mothers who were susceptible to the effects of household polyfluoroalkyl compounds at birth had weight below the norm, and by 20 months were more than their peers.
Polyfluoroalkyls are exogenous chemicals used in the production of fluoropolymers. They can be contained in ordinary household items, such as clothes, furniture and non-stick pans. Since polyfluoroalkyls are widely distributed in the environment, people are regularly exposed to these compounds. In some patients, traces of polyfluoroalkyl were found in the blood and even in human milk.
The study involved 447 British girls and their mothers. Experts found that children who were most exposed to polyfluoroalkyl at birth were weighed at birth, but when they were 20 months old, their weight exceeded the average weight of babies at that age. This indicates that in future children who are under the influence of polyfluoroalkyls may suffer from obesity.
Michelle Marcus - Master, Ph.D., lead author of the study, professor of epidemology at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University and deputy director of the Kaiser Permanente Consortium Health Research Center - commented on the results of the study:
"Previous studies in animals and humans have shown that prenatal exposure to polyfluoroalkyls can adversely affect the fetus and its postnatal development. Our results coincide with these studies and provide new evidence that the chemicals surrounding us in everyday life contribute to obesity and diabetes and begin to affect people from birth. "
Marcus added that a similar study in Denmark confirmed that women who have been exposed to polyfluoroalkyl in the womb are further exposed to an increased risk of obesity by the age of twenty.
Experiments in mice have shown that the effect of polyfluoroalkyls on the fetus in the womb leads to an increase in insulin levels and increases the risk of obesity in adulthood.
Researchers have pointed to the three most common types of polyfluoroalkyl compounds: perfluorooctane sulfonate, perfluorooctanoate, perfluorohexane sulfonate. During the study, experts checked the concentration of these substances in the blood of pregnant women. The height and weight of their newborn girls was measured when they were two, nine and 20 months old.
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