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| |  Higher Urinary Levels of BPA Linked With Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes CHICAGO -- September 16, 2008 -- Higher levels of urinary Bisphenol A (BPA) is associated with cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and liver-enzyme abnormalities, according to a study in the September 17 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. "Widespread and continuous exposure to BPA, primarily through food but also through drinking water, dental sealants, dermal exposure, and inhalation of household dusts, is evident from the presence of detectable levels of BPA in more than 90% of the US population," the authors wrote. David Melzer, PhD, Peninsula Medical School, Exeter, United Kingdom, and colleagues examined associations between urinary BPA concentrations and the health status of adults, using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2003 to 2004. The survey included 1,455 adults, aged 18 to 74 years, with measured urinary BPA concentrations. The researchers found that average BPA concentrations, after adjusting for age and sex, appeared higher in those who reported diagnoses of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. A 1-Standard Deviation (SD) increase in BPA concentration was associated with a 39% increased odds of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. When dividing BPA concentrations into quartiles, participants in the highest BPA concentration quartile had nearly 3 times the odds of cardiovascular disease compared with those in the lowest quartile. Similarly, those in the highest BPA concentration quartile had 2.4 times the odds of diabetes compared with those in the lowest quartile. In addition, higher BPA concentrations were associated with clinically abnormal concentrations for 3 liver enzymes. No associations with other diagnoses were observed. "Using data representative of the adult US population, we found that higher urinary concentrations of BPA were associated with an increased prevalence of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and liver-enzyme abnormalities," the authors wrote. "These findings add to the evidence suggesting adverse effects of low-dose BPA in animals. Independent replication and follow-up studies are needed to confirm these findings and to provide evidence on whether the associations are causal. Given the substantial negative effects on adult health that may be associated with increased BPA concentrations and also given the potential for reducing human exposure, our findings deserve scientific follow-up." In an accompanying editorial, Frederick S. vom Saal, PhD, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, and John Peterson Myers, PhD, Environmental Health Sciences, Charlottesville, Virginia, said: "Since worldwide BPA production has now reached approximately 7 billion pounds per year, eliminating direct exposures from its use in food and beverage containers will prove far easier than finding solutions for the massive worldwide contamination by this chemical due its to disposal in landfills and the dumping into aquatic ecosystems of myriad other products containing BPA, which Canada has already declared to be a major environmental contaminant." "The good news is that government action to reduce exposures may offer an effective intervention for improving health and reducing the burden of some of the most consequential human health problems. Thus, even while awaiting confirmation of the findings of Lang [and colleagues], decreasing exposure to BPA and developing alternatives to its use are the logical next steps to minimise risk to public health."
SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Association
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