Exposure to chemical toxins in the womb linked to increased health risks for children aged 6 to 11

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Chemical toxins are everywhere: in our water, our food, our air and our soil. Exposure to these toxins during pregnancy can create serious health problems in elementary school children that can affect their lives for years, according to a new study.

Children born to European mothers exposed to four families of chemicals that disrupt the body’s endocrine (hormonal) system had high levels of metabolic syndrome between ages 6 and 11. Metabolic syndrome can include obesity, high blood pressure, and abnormally high cholesterol and insulin resistance. which is a precursor to type 2 diabetes.

Among the group of children exposed to the highest levels of chemicals, 62% were overweight or obese, compared with 16% of children in the low-risk group, said first author Nuria Güil-Oumrait, a Fulbright scholar at the Icahn School of Medicine. at Mount Sinai in New York.

“In addition, insulin and blood triglyceride levels, as well as systolic and diastolic blood pressure, were significantly higher in the high-risk group than in the low-risk group,” Güil-Oumrait said in a letter. electronic. “In contrast, HDL cholesterol levels were lower in the high-risk group than in the low-risk group.” HDL cholesterol is considered a “good” blood fat because it helps clear arteries.

Metabolic syndrome is commonly associated with adult cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and stroke, but the growing epidemic of childhood obesity has seen symptoms appear in younger and younger children. Having metabolic syndrome in childhood is highly predictive of chronic disease in adulthood, experts say.

“This research stands out as one of the most comprehensive initiatives exploring the environmental origins of metabolic risk in early life, strengthening previous toxicological and epidemiological evidence in this area,” said Vicente Mustieles, Mariana Fernández and Carmen Messerlian in an editorial published with the study published Thursday in the journal JAMA Network Open.

Mustieles and Fernández are researchers at the Biomedical Research Center at the University of Granada, Spain. Messerlian is an assistant professor of reproductive, perinatal, and pediatric environmental epidemiology at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health in Boston.

CNN reached out to the International Council of Chemical Associations for comment but did not receive a response prior to publication. A spokesperson for the American Chemistry Council, however, made the following statement.

“We will review the details of this study once it is published. ACC members take seriously their responsibility to produce chemicals that provide significant safety, performance and durability benefits and are safe to use. Our members undertake in-depth scientific analyzes to assess the potential risks of their chemicals, from their development through their safe use and disposal.

The research team behind the new study performed blood and urine tests on 1,134 mothers while they were pregnant, then repeated those tests on their children ages 6 to 11. The tests looked for mixtures of nine chemical classes of commonly used endocrine disruptors. found in the environment.

Endocrine disruptors are environmental pollutants with the “capacity to cross the blood-placenta barrier and interfere with human metabolism and hormonal balance,” the study states.

These and other chemicals “end up in the blood, tissues, and organs of fetuses and infants through maternal transplacental and breastfeeding routes in a never-ending cycle,” Mustieles, Fernández, and Messerlian wrote.

The study tested pesticides; heavy metals; flame retardants; plasticizers such as phthalates and phenols; and PFAS (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances), which are found in surface and ground waters around the world at levels well above those allowed by many international regulators.

Called “forever chemicals” because they do not completely break down in the environment, PFAS have been used since the 1950s to make consumer products that are non-stick, oil and water repellent, and resistant to temperature changes. Some of the most studied PFAS, such as PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) and PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonic acid), have been linked to serious health problems such as cancer, obesity, thyroid disease, high cholesterol, decreased fertility, liver damage and hormonal disruptions. according to the EPA.

Toxic heavy metals found in soil and water include lead and arsenic – studies have found alarming levels in manufactured baby foods. There is no safe level of lead, while arsenic, mercury and other heavy metals can harm the body and brain in relatively small doses, experts say.

A December 2014 meta-analysis of arsenic studies found that a 50% increase in urine arsenic levels would be associated with a 0.4 point decrease in the IQ of children aged 5 at 15.

Flame retardants have been linked to a 300% higher risk of cancer. These chemical toxins are the biggest contributors to intellectual disability in children worldwide, leading to a total loss of 162 million IQ points and more than 738,000 cases of intellectual disability, according to an August 2020 study.

Phthalates, found in hundreds of consumer products such as food containers, shampoo, makeup, perfume and children’s toys, have been linked to premature deaths in people aged 55 to 64. in the USA. Previous research has linked phthalates to reproductive problems, such as genital malformations and undescended testicles in baby boys, as well as decreased sperm counts and testosterone levels in adult men. Phthalates are also linked in studies to childhood obesity, asthma, cardiovascular problems and cancer.

In the study, phthalates were the only group of chemicals associated with a lower level of metabolic syndrome.. All other chemical families increase the risk.

Chemicals can vary in their impact on the body. For example, certain PFAS compounds tend to accumulate in the liver, contributing to fatty liver and high cholesterol. And flame retardants and other chemicals can be stored in body fat, contributing to obesity and the development of type 2 diabetes, according to the editorial.

Since people are exposed to many types of potentially toxic substances every day, designing a study that could capture the cumulative impact on different parts of the body would provide a more realistic picture of any potential health impacts.

By focusing on metabolic syndrome, which combines measurements of blood sugar, lipids such as cholesterol, the existence of adipose tissue and the impact on the heart, the present study was one of the first to achieve this goal. , specifies the editorial.

“We almost always view health risks from single chemicals, one at a time, as if we were exposed to just one chemical at a time,” said Jane Houlihan, national director of science and technology. health for Healthy Babies Bright Futures, a coalition of advocates committed to reducing babies’ exposure to neurotoxic chemicals.

“Here, the research team shows that the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes in children later in life can be determined at any time by complex mixtures of endocrine-disrupting chemicals present in the body and highlights the particular risk of exposure to chemicals during pregnancy,” she said. .

Healthy Babies Bright Futures published a report in 2019 revealing the presence of toxic metals in 95% of baby foods randomly removed from supermarket shelves, leading to the introduction of the Baby Food Safety Act. 2024, a bill that would allow the United States Food and Drug Administration to set stricter standards and allow the FDA to monitor those standards by accessing the records of food suppliers and manufacturers.

“Given the sharp increase in metabolic syndrome in the United States, health authorities and businesses should do everything they can to strengthen safety standards and remove these chemicals from commerce and our everyday products,” said Houlihan said.

There are ways to minimize exposure to plastics and other toxins, which is especially critical during pregnancy and childhood because developing fetuses and small bodies are more easily damaged, Houlihan said.

Reduce rice consumption for infants and children and be sure to rinse grains well before using them, as this removes up to 60% of arsenic, she said. Limit juices and be sure to wash and peel vegetables and fruits thoroughly and, if possible, buy organic produce.

Stay away from stain-resistant carpets and upholstery and don’t use waterproofing sprays.

Check your area for levels of PFAS and other chemicals in your drinking water. The Environmental Working Group, an advocacy nonprofit, created a national tap water database searchable by ZIP code that lists PFAS and other chemicals of concern, along with a national map which illustrates where PFAS have been detected in the United States.

If your drinking water…