Phenol Concentrations During Childhood and Subsequent Measures of Adiposity Among Young Girls

Abstract

Phenolic compounds represent a class of environmental chemicals with potentially endocrine-disrupting capabilities. We investigated longitudinal associations between childhood exposure to phenols, from both manmade and natural sources, and subsequent measures of adiposity among girls enrolled in the Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Program between 2004 and 2007. Baseline (ages 6–8 years) urinary concentrations were obtained for creatinine and phenol metabolites: enterolactone, genistein, daidzein, benzophenone-3, bisphenol A, the sum of parabens (methyl, ethyl, and propyl parabens), 2,5-dichlorophenol, and triclosan. Body mass index (weight (kg)/height (m)2), waist circumference, and percent body fat were measured at annual or semiannual examinations through 2015 (n = 1,017). Linear mixed-effects regression was used to estimate how baseline concentrations of phenols (tertile groups) were related to changes in girls’ adiposity measurements from ages 7 through 15 years. Enterolactone was inversely associated with body mass index, waist circumference, and percent body fat, while 2,5-dichlorophenol was positively associated with these measurements. A nonmonotonic association was observed for triclosan and girls’ adiposity; however, it was due to effect modification by baseline overweight status. Triclosan was positively associated with adiposity only among overweight girls. These results suggest that exposure to specific phenols during childhood may influence adiposity through adolescence.

Parabens and measures of adiposity among adults and children from the U.S. general population: NHANES 2007–2014

“…For example, prenatal exposure to parabens has been reported to be positively associated with birth weight among boys (Philippat et al 2014). Conversely, postnatal exposure to parabens in one U.S. study (Deierlein et al 2017) was not associated with adiposity measures among girls from ages 7 through 15 years. Similarly, Guo et al (Guo et al 2017) did not observe associations between body mass index z-scores and exposure to parabens among three-year-olds in Korea; however, researchers reported a positive link between weight z-scores and ethyl paraben biomarker concentrations among boys.…”

Exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals and anthropometric measures of obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Xue et al 71 reported a positive association between urinary paraben levels and obesity in children, whereas Kang et al 77 studied children and adults and described that urinary parabens levels were positively associated with BMI in adults but not in children. Deierlein et al 36 found no association between exposure to parabens and prospective changes in adiposity measures among girls. The only study investigating benzoic acid 78 (online supplementary table 2) described that in adults low urinary 3-PBA levels were positively associated with obesity, whereas high levels were negatively associated.…”

“…Two of them reported positive association between exposure to OCPs and prospective increases in BMI 24 and WC 55 in adults. One study involving children reported a positive association between exposure to OCPs and prospective changes in adiposity measures in girls aged 6-8 years, 36 whereas 2 studies 56 74 involving children found no association between exposure to OCPs or PCBs and prospective changes in BMI 56 74 or WC. 56 The individual OC compounds that were examined varied among the studies, and most assessed more than one compound.…”

Prenatal exposure to consumer product chemical mixtures and size for gestational age at delivery

“…Previous studies examining prenatal paraben exposure have reported inconsistent associations with fetal growth, with varying estimated directions and magnitude of effect (19)(20)(21)(54)(55)(56). More broadly, however, parabens are suspected to have effects on body composition and altered weight (57)(58)(59)(60)(61). For example, a study in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) reported that higher urinary parabens were associated with lower BMI in both children and adults (59).…”