1. angrytoxicologist
  2. Plastics make you fat too? Angrytoxicologist reboots.

Plastics make you fat too? Angrytoxicologist reboots.

By angrytoxicologist on December 3, 2008.

Well, if MacGuire was talking about getting into toxicology research on plastics, he was right on. EHP has published a study showing that the additive BPA can cause cells to suppress adiponectin. That would cause insensitivity to insulin and may be behind "metabolic syndrome". Let's pause for a moment and think about that name. That's got to be the worst name for a syndrome ever. It could only be more vague by being called 'syndrome'. I prefer something that creates a nice visual, like bronchiolitis obliterans. Nothing like an obliterated lung to get your attention. I propose cardiolipoinsulinobesity disease. Hmmm...okay, we'll stick with metabolic syndrome...or the slightly more technical, "F'ed up". Seriously, it's also called insulin resistance syndrome. It's symptoms include obesity, heart disease, diabetes, general inflammation, prothrombic state (meaning you're more likely to stroke out). Sweet.

It's not clear how the BPA does this, though it's likely due to it's ability to disrupt hormones. In the study, estradiol (the potent estrogen) had the same effects on breast and abdominal fat tissue. They used human fat tissues that were removed from patients undergoing other procedures. The one issue I have here is that it may be that those undergoing the procedures have cells that react differently than the rest of the population. The samples came from patients getting breast reduction sugery, a tummy tuck, or gastric bypass. The people may have bodies that like to build up fat anyway, especially in the last two. Even if this is true, however, it at least means that some people are effected by BPA; in fact, it may be those who can least afford it.

There was a wide variety of effect of BPA (i.e. some patient's tissues were sensitive to it and others weren't). However, on average, BPA was more potent than estradiol at equimolar doses (that's an equivalent dose based on the number of molecules, not weight, for those of you who didn't take or don't remember chemistry). Yikes!

Anyway, here's the kicker. The levels were environmentally relevant. 1-10 nM are common in people (some up to 20 nM). The study found effects at 0.1 and 1.0 nM. Good 'ole plastics. Is there anything they can't do?

PS Here's my water bottle advice.

Tags
Toxics

More like this

Obesity, Inflammation, and Diabetes
This entry is cross posted from the the SITN Flash, a bimonthly publication written and edited by Harvard graduate students. You can find my piece, as well as archives of previous articles written by many graduate students at the Science in the News website. In 1985, the Centers for Disease Control…
Does BPA interfere with breast cancer treatment?
The health concerns about bisphenol-A (BPA), a component of hard polycarbonate plastic, has been extended once again (see here, here, here for previous posts on BPA). BPA, a ubiquitous contaminant of human bodies, leaches from water and baby bottles, the lining of tin cans, dental sealants and many…
Bisphenol A Saga Continues
Today the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and other news sources report that the National Toxicology Program has issued a draft brief stating concerns about the effects of low levels of bispehnol A on fetusus and children. Exposure to bisphenol A can interfere with the development of children's…
Abdominal adiposity and risk of death, or "belly fat'll kill ya'"
Last week's New England Journal of Medicine gave us some remarkable news, via the JUPITER Trial, adding additional evidence to the pile of articles on the cardioprotective effects of statins. This article is getting lots of press, which is great, but I'd hate to see this week's edition of the…

Welcome back.

I was worried this place had died.

As soon as I traded in the plastic water bottles for stainless steel bottles, I read about potential nickel issues with stainless steel in water bottles, s/s cookware. Know anything about that?

I'm not going to make any changes in my s/s usage yet, but I am keeping my ear to the rail to learn more about if nickel is a significant issue to consider or not. But if it's like plastics, it will be another 20+ years at least before we'll know, right?

I'm not bothering with the new BPA-free plastics because who knows what the risks are of the new formulas.

I've also traded out a lot of my plastic food storageware for tempered glass containers with silicon sealed leakproof plastic snap-top lids (I figure there's generally less contact with the lid (greenlock by snapware is the brand). I really like these because they are rectangular, stack well, and make better use of angular cabinet and fridge space than round containers, are really clear and display the contents better ( the males in my household who suffer from "refrigerator blindness" are better at finding items now, sometimes even in the second row back), and are nice for serving at the table. I don't reheat in the microwave much anymore, but microwaving can be done with these. But they are not approved for regular oven/range or toaster oven use.

The only downside I've experienced is storing the empties - the small rectangular size nests into the medium size, but the medium doesn't nest into the large (you'd think they could have managed a very slight dimension difference to accommodate that). So I nest the empty smalls in both of the empty larger sizes and stack them in a cupboard (though most of the time they are in use holding food). So far no breaks or chips, even with a clumsy 4th grader in the house and hard countertops. And I found them at both a big box houseware/kitchenware store (with 20% coupons but slightly higher regular prices) and at one of the local grocery stores near the food wrap section.

welcome back.

so riddle me this; if BPA is potent on an equimolar basis with estrogen, surely you must accept that it cannot be acting through the estrogen receptors ?

per

The only downside I've experienced is storing the empties - the small rectangular size nests into the medium size, but the medium doesn't nest into the large (you'd think they could have managed a very slight dimension difference to accommodate that).

The only söve downside I've experienced söve is storing the empties - the small rectangular söve size nests into the medium size, söve but the medium doesn't nest söve into the large (you'd think they could söve have managed a very slight söve dimension difference to accommodate that).

Here's my question: isn't any company free to charge any prices for its products, unless it's a monopoly. Do the Big Four have a monopoly on music? If not, is charging Web stations and not charging terresrtial stations illegal? BTW, is it really true that terrestial stations pay nothing? That's hard to believe.

doesn't nest söve into the large (you'd think they could söve have managed a very slight söve dimension difference to accommodate that).

al? BTW, is it really true that terrestial stations pay nothing?

doesn't nest söve into the large (you'd think they could söve have managed a very slight söve dimension difference to accommodate that).

al? BTW, is it really true that terrestial stations pay nothing?...

Very cool app. Can you tell me where to download the Help files? Apparently they didnât make it during the install process, so it wonât load them. Thanks!

The only söve downside I've experienced söve is storing the empties - the small rectangular söve size nests into the medium size, söve but the medium doesn't nest söve into the large (you'd think they could söve have managed a very slight söve dimension difference to accommodate that).

I also have a big contest coming up that I'd like to have all my affiliates involved in. I can understand not wanting to share it, but if you're willing give me your email and I'll send the info to you

Really looking forward to the next few days when people start properly aggregating this information. Will be interesting to see if what Google reports seem to match the studies we have done on the basis of your experiments for

kekuatan platform blog yang dimungkinkan dengan software open source. Beberapa dari kita mungkin masih ingat bagaimana blog dulu tidak terlalu meledak ketika toolsnya masih proprietary dan/atau mahal dan/atau tidak terbuka. Kini ketika platform blog telah dibebaskan dengan berbagai software blog open source yang nyaman digunakan, maka kita semua yang meraup manfaatnya.

Vrea sÄ pÄcÄleascÄ milioane de suporteriâ presa, cred ca de ea vorbeai, nu? ca altfel te crezi vreun sondaj, vreun barometru sau

Wow. I think this gets back to personal responsibility. The teacher should not have said what was said. The comment could have been made in a more authoritative tone. e.g. You should follow the dress code. The student should not have broken the rules and the mom should accept responsibility for raising her daughter improperly

Really looking forward to the next few days when people start properly aggregating this information. Will be interesting to see if what Google reports seem to match the studies we have done on the basis of your experiments for

capture a date and time. I am currently using onSelect : function() { this.hide() } to close the popup when a date is selected. However this is not the best solution when a date a time is needed as people most often select the d

capture a date and time. I am currently using onSelect : function() { this.hide() } to close the popup when a date is selected. However this is not the best solution when a date a time is needed as people most often select the

Don't you understand what real freedom is? At time you don't compose your history essays, but essays writing service provides you with essays, you can see the autonomy.