Another study has revealed a link between BPA exposure and adverse health effects, this time the problems concern future cardiac issues.
BPA, bisphenol A, is a polycarbonate plastics chemical that is a known estrogenic mimicker that has been linked to a wide array of negative health effects. The ubiquity of BPA, which is used in many, many consumer products, is legendary, making the debate over this chemical significant. BPA is also known to leach into products, whether heated or cold, and into the skin, from every day items such as paper money, toilet paper, and receipts.
This study followed people over one decade and found that healthy people with increased BPA urine levels were likelier to develop heart disease later in life, said Health Canal. Researchers at Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, the University of Exeter, and the European Centre for the Environment and Human Health, in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, conducted the study, said Health Canal. The British Heart Foundation funded the study, which appears online in Circulation, a Journal of the American Heart Association.
The same team had identified the link between BPA and the increased risk of cardiovascular disease earlier by using two sets of U.S. data, described by Health Canal as “snapshots in time.” The earlier data revealed a link between BPA exposure and cardiovascular disease; however, those findings were unable to assist researchers in predicting how BPA exposure might affect future health, said Health Canal.
This study utilized data from the European Prospective Investigation of Cancer (EPIC) in Norfolk, United Kingdom, which is a long-term population study led by the University of Cambridge, supported by the Medical Research Council U.K. and Cancer Research U.K., said Health Canal. The study represents the first time that data was used to establish a link between BPA exposure and future onset for heart disease.
The study compared 758 EPIC study respondents who were initially healthy and who later developed heart disease to 861 respondents who did not develop heart disease. Health Canal wrote that the study revealed that respondents who developed cardiovascular disease generally tested with increased urinary BPA levels at the start of the 10-year period. The effect was difficult to determine because only one urine specimen per participant was available at the start of the study, noted Health Canal.
Research lead, Professor David Melzer of the Peninsula Medical School, called for more research. “This study strengthens the statistical link between BPA and heart disease, but we can’t be certain that BPA itself is responsible. It is now important that government agencies organize drug style safety trials of BPA in humans, as much basic information about how BPA behaves in the human body is still unknown,” he said, according to Health Canal.
We just wrote that another study linked BPA and that scientists from that study warned that even tiny amounts of synthesized substances such as BPA, are sufficient to mix up hormones and how they work in our bodies. This can include, for instance, our fat cells taking in more fat or confusing the pancreas into releasing too much insulin, the hormone responsible to regulate the breakdown of fat and carbohydrates in the body. BPA is the most commonly found endocrine disrupter.
We’ve also written about at least two BPA-breast cancer links and links to increased anxiety and depression in preschoolers exposed to BPA in the womb. BPA has been linked to toxic injury and implications in cardiovascular disease, intestinal problems, brain cell connection interference, increased risks of reproductive and immune system diseases and disorders, problems with liver function testing, interruptions in chemotherapy treatment, premature puberty, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) and other female fertility and endocrine issues, and erectile dysfunction and male sexual problems in males as young as the developing fetus.
