UC Study Links BPA Found In Plastics, Metabolic Syndrome

CINCINNATI -- New research from the University of Cincinnati implicates the primary chemical used to produce hard plastics, bisphenol A (BPA), as a risk factor for metabolic syndrome and its consequences.

In a laboratory study, using fresh human fat tissues, the UC team said it found that BPA suppresses a key hormone, adiponectin, which is responsible for regulating insulin sensitivity in the body and puts people at a substantially higher risk for metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome is a combination of risk factors that include lower responsiveness to insulin and higher blood levels of sugar and lipids. According to the American Heart Association, about 25 percent of Americans have metabolic syndrome. Left untreated, the disorder can lead to life-threatening health problems such as coronary artery disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes.

The university said that Dr. Nira Ben-Jonathan and her team are the first to report scientific evidence on the health effects of BPA at environmentally relevant doses equal to “average” human exposure.

Previous studies have primarily focused on animal studies and high doses of BPA.

“People have serious concerns about the potential health effects of BPA. As the scientific evidence continues to mount against the chemical, it should be given serious attention to minimize future harm,” said Ben-Jonathan, a professor of cancer and cell biology at UC who has studied BPA for more than 10 years, in a news release.

“Experimenting with human tissue is the closest we can come to testing the effects of BPA in humans. It’s a very exciting breakthrough because epidemiological studies looking at BPA effects on humans are difficult since most people have already been exposed to it,” she added.

Scientists estimate that over 80 percent of people tested have measurable BPA in their bloodstream. The UC study was designed to mimic a realistic human exposure so that a more direct correlation between human exposure and health effects could be drawn.

Read The Abstract On UC's BPA Study