On June 17, 2015 the news provider ScienceDaily published an article summarizing new research on the plasticizer Hexamoll DINCH™. The substance with the chemical name cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylic acid diisononyl ester (DINCH, CAS 166412-78-8) is used as alternative for the plasticizer diehtylhexyl phthalate (DEHP, CAS 117-81-7), a widely used substance and endocrine disrupting chemical. To date scarce information is available publicly on DINCH’s biological effects. Scientists from McGill University, Canada, studied the phthalate-alternative’s ability to cause fat cell differentiation in rat tissue. While they found no activity of DINCH itself, one of the main metabolites, cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylic acid mono isononyl ester (MINCH), was shown to induce adipocyte differentiation through binding peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα). Another metabolite however was not active, either.
Fat cell differentiation is of concern because it is associated with metabolic disruption and linked to obesity, diabetes and other chronic diseases. Current standard toxicological testing for food contact chemicals does not include assays for metabolic disruption, nor does it routinely ask for testing of a substance’s main metabolites.
DINCH is authorized as additive for food contact plastics in the EU.
Read more
McGill University (June 17, 2015). “Is phthalate alternative really safe?” ScienceDaily
Reference
Campioli, E. et al. (2015). “Cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylic acid diisononyl ester and metabolite effects on rat epididymal stromal vascular fraction differentiation of adipose tissue.” Environmental Research (140), 145-156 (online April 9, 2015).
