In an article published on September 13, 2018, by news provider Environmental Health News (EHN), journalist Lynne Peeples informs about a new scientific study on the effects of bisphenol A (BPA, CAS 80-05-7) on insulin production in humans. The study was published on September 12, 2018, in the peer-reviewed Journal of the Endocrine Society and conducted by Richard W. Stahlhut and colleagues from different U.S. and European universities.
The researchers exposed male and female volunteers to oral doses of BPA of 50 µg/kg body weight – the daily oral BPA dose that is presumed safe over a lifetime by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). After the BPA administration, participants were exposed to glucose either via a drink (experiment 2) or via an intravenous (IV) infusion (experiment 2). The researchers found that BPA increased insulin production in response to glucose in the first experiment and decreased insulin response in the second. The authors thus conclude that “BPA exposure to a dose considered safe by U.S. regulators may alter glucose-stimulated insulin response in humans,” which could increase people’s risk of developing diabetes 2.
“We found an effect with a dose of BPA that shouldn’t produce an effect,” stated Angel Nadal of the Miguel Hernandez University of Leche in Spain who co-authored the study. In response, the industry group American Chemistry Council (ACC) highlighted that the study does not prove that BPA’s effects are related to disease. Further, the ACC deemed dosing human volunteers ethically questionable because of the researchers’ expectation that effects would occur. However, “[o]ne of the justifications for doing the test is that the levels they administered were within the federal guidelines,” Sheldon Krimsky, a professor at Tufts University, U.S., studying ethics in science and technology and not involved in the study, pointed out.
Read more
Lynne Peeples (September 13, 2018). “In a scientific first, researchers gave people BPA — and saw a link to precursor of type 2 diabetes.” EHN
Emma Davies (September 13, 2018). “Human study suggests BPA could trigger insulin resistance.” Chemical Watch
Environmental Working Group (September 14, 2018). “First U.S. BPA lab study on humans finds troubling health effects at levels deemed ‘safe.’” EcoWatch
Reference
Stahlhut, R. W., et al. (2018). “Experimental BPA exposure and glucose-stimulated insulin response in adult men and women.” Journal of the Endocrine Society (published online September 2018).
