The association between urinary bisphenol A levels and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in Korean adults: Korean National Environmental Health Survey (KoNEHS) 2015-2017

Abstract

Background Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is becoming a global health problem. Bisphenol A (BPA), one of most widely used environmental chemicals, is suspected to be a contributor to the development NAFLD. This study was performed to examine the relationship between human BPA levels and risk of NAFLD. Methods The data (n = 3476 adults: 1474 men and 2002 women) used in this study were obtained from the Korean National Environmental Health Survey III (2015-2017). BPA levels were measured in urine samples. NAFLD was defined using hepatic steatosis index after exclusion of other causes of hepatic diseases. Results There was a significant linear relationship between the elevated urinary BPA concentrations and risk of NAFLD. In a univariate analysis, odds ratio (OR) of the highest quartile of urinary BPA level was 1.47 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.11-1.94] compared to the lowest quartile. After adjusted with covariates, the ORs for NAFLD in the third and fourth quartiles were 1.31 [95% CI 1.03-1.67] and 1.32 [95% CI 1.03–1.70], respectively. Conclusions Urinary BPA levels are positively associated with the risk of NAFLD in adults. Further experimental studies are needed to understand the molecular mechanisms of BPA on NAFLD prevalence.

Hair Sample Analysis as a Method of Monitoring Exposure to Bisphenol A in Dogs

“…The easy and stress-free collection of hair samples will enable comprehensive studies on large experimental groups concerning the correlation between the degree of exposure to BPA and risk of various pathological states in dogs, e.g., liver and gastrointestinal diseases, diabetes, obesity, endocrinal disturbances, and neoplastic processes. Although information about BPA-induced pathological processes in dogs is rather scarce, previous studies on experimental animals and epidemiological reports on humans [4,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23] strongly suggest that BPA may influence both the above-mentioned diseases and other disturbances in dogs. The long-term biomonitoring of dogs' exposure to BPA using hair sample analysis may also be used in dog breeding, as it may eventually elucidate the influence of BPA on disturbances to the reproductive processes in various canine races.…”

“…In the liver, BPA causes inflammatory processes, apoptosis and oxidative stress reactions [19], and changes fatty acid and glucose metabolism and intrahepatic innervation [20,21]. A correlation between exposure to BPA and the development and progression of fatty liver disease has been also reported [22,23]. Moreover, some observations have shown a connection between the degree of exposure to BPA and increased risk of diabetes, obesity, and hypertension, as well as neurodegenerative and neoplastic diseases [4,24,25].…”

Are BPA Substitutes as Obesogenic as BPA?

“…Epidemiological studies link exposure to BPA to the occurrence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which is considered a predominant chronic liver disease worldwide and a component of metabolic syndrome [55][56][57][58]. These studies are supported by experimental data showing that BPA deregulates many energy metabolic pathways in the liver [20,[59][60][61][62].…”

Endocrine disrupting chemicals: A promoter of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

“…BPA has low lipophilicity and degrades rapidly with a half-life of 4–5 h ( 82 ). Due to its broad application, BPA is detected in more than 90% of people, and the median urine BPA concentration in adults is 2.24–6.17 ng/mL ( 83 , 84 ).…”