Research Suggests Phthalates Linked to Child Obesity
A long-term study by the Mount Sinai Medical Center for Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research has reportedly suggested a link between childhood obesity and endocrine disruptors, including phthalates and bisphenol A. Part of a study titled “Growing Up Healthy in East Harlem,” the project followed 520 children ages 6 to 8 for five years in an effort to determine “how the area where the children lived affected diet, physical activity and risk for obesity.” Researchers apparently found that study participants had “higher levels in their urine of three endocrine disruptors – 2,5 DCP, MBP and MEHHP – than a national sample of children the same age.”
According to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, approximately 43 percent of East Harlem kindergarteners were also overweight or obese for their age in 2003. “The heaviest girls have the highest levels of phthalates metabolites in their urine,” said Dr. Phillip J. Landrigan, one of the lead researchers. “It goes up as the children get heavier, but it’s most evident in the heaviest kids.” See Mount Sinai Press Release, April 16, 2009; New York Times City Room Blog, April 17, 2009.
As a result of these findings, Mount Sinai Center has recommended that parents reduce children’s exposure to these chemicals, which are used in “fragrance and products with fragrances, nail polish, vinyl, flexible plastics such as shower curtains and a variety of household products.” In addition, the researchers have urged families “to avoid use of mothballs and toilet bowl deodorizers in the home” because these products can contain high levels of DCP. “Right now it’s a correlation; we don’t know if it’s cause and effect or an accidental finding,” Landrigan was quoted as saying. “The $64,000 question is, what is causal pathway? Does it go through the thyroid gland? Does it change fat metabolism?”
