Two recent studies have linked bisphenol A (BPA) to hormonal changes in men and genetic changes in female mice. Researchers in the first instance analyzed urine samples from 715 participants ages 20 to 74 enrolled in an Italian population study, measuring average daily exposure to BPA at approximately 5 micrograms. Tamara Galloway, et al., “Daily Bisphenol A Excretions and Associations with Sex Hormone Concentrations: Results from the InCHIANTI Adult Population,” Environmental Health Perspectives, August 2010. Although these levels were in line with other surveys, the results also showed that “higher daily BPA excretion was associated with higher total testosterone concentrations in men.” According to the authors, their findings are significant “because they provide a first report in a large-scale population of associations between elevated exposure to BPA and alterations in circulating hormone levels.” In addition, a second study has reportedly found evidence that low doses of BPA altered gene expression…
Category Archives Scientific/Technical Items
Overweight Americans ages 2 to 19 have become heavier over the last decade, according to a newly published study. May Beydoun & Youfa Wang, “Sociodemographic disparities in distribution shifts over time in various adiposity measures among American children and adolescents: What changes in prevalence rates could not reveal,” International Journal of Pediatric Obesity, August 2010. Conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the National Institute on Aging, the study used population data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to examine changes in the body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and triceps skinfold thickness (TST) of boys and girls across sociodemographic groups. According to Wang, the data showed significant weight gains that were “unequally distributed” across the demographic groups and spectrums of BMI, WC and TST. “Heavier children and adolescents gained more adiposity, especially waist size, and these findings were most significant among children…
A recent study has purportedly linked consumption of carbonated diet sodas with an increased risk of premature birth. Thorhallur Halldorsson, et al., “Intake of artificially sweetened soft drinks and risk of preterm delivery: a prospective cohort study of 59,334 Danish pregnant women,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, June 30, 2010. Researchers evaluated data from approximately 60,000 pregnancies tracked in Denmark between 1996 and 2002. According to the study, women in the middle of their pregnancies who drank at least one diet soft drink daily were 38 percent more likely to have a premature baby before 37 weeks of pregnancy than those who abstained. In addition, women who drank at least four such products per day were at a 78 percent risk of early delivery. The researchers claimed that “no association was observed for sugar-sweetened carbonated soft drinks or for sugar-sweetened noncarbonated soft drinks” and suggested that more studies are needed…
A molecular biologist has allegedly found that waterborne chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA) are a contributing factor to lobster shell disease, a bacterial infection linked to population die-offs in the Long Island Sound. Undertaken on behalf of the New England Lobster Research Initiative and presented during the 9th Annual Ronald C. Baird Sea Grant Science Symposium, the study reportedly suggests that alkylphenols from plastics, paint and detergents can delay new shell growth, making lobsters more susceptible to pathogens during the molting process. These substances also apparently prolong maturation in juveniles, while mothers who contract shell disease are often forced to molt midway through the reproductive cycle and thus lose their offspring. As University of Connecticut Research Professor Hans Laufer explained in an August 10, 2010, press release, “[a]lkylphenols have phenomenal juvenile hormone activity,” which affects “growth, reproduction, metamorphosis, and development.” He further noted that 90 percent of the U.S.…
Researchers from the Environmental Protection Agency, University of Arkansas and University of California, Fresno, have reportedly identified populations of genetically modified (GM) canola growing wild in North Dakota. According to results presented at the Ecological Society of America’s (ESA’s) 95th Annual Meeting, scientists found that 347 of the 406 plants collected from roadsides contained either CP4 EPSPS protein, which confers tolerance to glyphosate herbicide, or PAT protein, which confers tolerance to glufosinate herbicide. “There were also two instances of multiple transgenes in single individuals,” University of Arkansas ecologist Cynthia Sagers was quoted as saying. “Varieties with multiple transgenic traits have not yet been released commercially, so this finding suggests that feral populations are reproducing and have become established outside of cultivation.” See ESA Press Release, August 6, 2010. Sagers has reportedly called for further research, suggesting that GM canola has been “part of the landscape for several generations.” She has conceded,…
Soybeans grown in soil that contains pharmaceuticals and the chemicals found in personal care products can reportedly absorb those compounds. Chenxi Wu, et al., “Uptake of Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products by Soybean Plants from Soils Applied with Biosolids and Irrigated with Contaminated Water,” Environ. Sci. Technol., July 21, 2010. The plants were apparently grown under conditions simulating fertilization with treated sewage and irrigation with recycled water. Three pharmaceuticals and two antimicrobials common in personal care products were added to the soil and water, and the plant tissues were tested just before flowering and then after they sprouted beans. The environmental scientists found that uptake “of selected compounds differed by treatment, with biosolids application resulting in higher plant concentrations, likely due to higher loading. However, compounds introduced by irrigation appeared to be more available for uptake and dislocation.”
A recent study has purportedly linked an increased risk of bladder cancer to “meatrelated compounds,” including nitrate and nitrite. Leah Ferrucci, et al., “Meat and components of meat and the risk of bladder cancer in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study,” Cancer, August 2010. Researchers apparently identified 854 transitional cell bladder-cancer cases among the 300,933 men and women enrolled in the 1995 National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study. Using validated food-frequency questionnaires completed by subjects and quantitative databases of measured values, the study authors estimated “intake of nitrate and nitrite from processed meat and HCAs [heterocyclic amines] and PAHs [polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons] from cooked meat.” Their results reportedly showed that when compared to participants who ate the least amount of processed red meat, the top one-fifth had a 30 percent greater risk of contracting bladder cancer. As the study authors concluded, these findings provide “modest support for an…
A recent study has reportedly suggested that pancreatic cancer cells “can readily metabolize fructose”—but not glucose—“to increase proliferation.” Haibo Lu, et al., “Fructose Induces Transketolase Flux to Promote Pancreatic Cancer Growth,” Cancer Research, July 20, 2010. The abstract maintains that “fructose and glucose metabolism are quite different,” as fructose “induces thiamine-dependent transketolase flux and is preferentially metabolized via the nonoxidative pentose phosphate pathway to synthesize nucleic acids and increase uric acid production.” Thus fructose purportedly provides “an alternative substrate to induce pancreatic cancer cell proliferation.” These findings could have “major significance for cancer patients given dietary refined fructose consumption, and indicate that efforts to reduce refined fructose intake or inhibit fructose-mediated actions may disrupt cancer growth,” conclude the study authors. Meanwhile, the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) and others have publicly disputed the implications of these results. In an August 3, 2010, press release, CRA noted several inaccuracies in the study, which…
“Caffeine-loaded energy drinks have now crossed the line from beverages to drugs delivered as tasty syrups,” opines a July 26, 2010, Canadian Medical Association Journal editorial, which recommends “strict regulations” and warning labels comparable to those required for caffeine tablets. According to the authors, these sweetened beverages pose a unique health risk to adolescents, 73 percent of whom reported consuming at least 100 mg of caffeine per day, and college students who “often mix energy drinks with alcohol, a potentially hazardous combination because the high levels of caffeine can mask the perception—but not the consequences—of acute alcohol intoxication.” Moreover, claims the editorial, these products “are often targeted toward children and youth through carefully designed advertising campaigns as well as sponsorship of events such as snowboarding and skateboarding competitions.” The editors thus call for “government-mandated restrictions on labeling, sales and marketing, or self-imposed industry standards with clear labeling accompanied by public education.”…
A recent editorial in The New England Journal of Medicine has warned that health care reform, rising medical costs and childhood obesity have overtaken tobacco as the top public health priorities, even though smoking “remains by far the most common cause of preventable death and disability in the United States.” Titled “Don’t Forget Tobacco,” the opinion piece claims that federal, state and private efforts to reduce smoking “have seen their assets dwindle or their priorities change” as obesity comes to dominate the discourse. “Lack of insurance, childhood obesity and tobacco use are very different public health challenges, requiring different solutions. All three threaten the most vulnerable Americans,” opine the authors. “By assuming that the tobacco war has been won, we risk consigning millions of Americans to premature death.” Meanwhile, a July 27, 2010, New York Times article fleshes out this trend, tracking the dollars diverted from anti-tobacco campaigns to address…
