In an article published on July 25, 2019, in the Journal of the Endocrine Society, researchers investigated the relationships of urinary concentrations of bisphenol A (BPA; CAS 80-05-7), bisphenol S (BPS; CAS 80-09-1), and bisphenol F (BPF; CAS 1333-16-0) with body mass in children and adolescents. They used data collected by the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) during the years 2013-2016 for 1,831 people. The chemical analogues BPS and BPF have been introduced as substitutes for BPA in many applications such as in resins for food contact linings in cans. The “study suggests that BPA substitute chemicals are correlated with obesity in contemporary children.”
Melanie Jacobson is lead author of the study and spoke with news provider Chemical Watch about the findings. “We found a correlation between the substitutes and childhood obesity, similar to that [which] was observed previously with BPA,” she said. “I would say that this replacement is unfortunate, it’s likely not fixing the issue.”
The authors note in the study that their “results should be interpreted with caution” as the “cross-sectional design [of the study] precludes [their] ability to infer whether exposure to bisphenols may influence weight gain or obesity, or whether obese children may have greater exposures to or excretion of bisphenol compounds.” They recommend that “the potential health effects of BPS and other BPA replacement compounds should be monitored going forward, given that human exposure to these compounds is likely to continue to increase in the future.”
Reference
Jacobson, M., et al. (2019). “Urinary bisphenols and obesity prevalence among US children and adolescents.” Journal of the Endocrine Society (published July 25, 2019)
Read more
Maria Delaney (August 20, 2019). “Childhood obesity linked with exposure to BPA substitutes.” Chemical Watch
Rebecca Trager (August 21, 2019). “Concerns raised over ‘regrettable’ BPA substitutions.” Chemistry World
