Perfluorinated compounds and diabetes: a worrying link

Perfluorinated compounds

Environmental contaminants are linked to diabetes. After PCBs, pesticides, phthalates and certain bisphenols, perfluorinated compounds are also linked to the disease.

Perfluorinated compounds, or PFAS (for perfluokaryl polyfluokaryl substances), are molecules whose carbon chain is linked to fluorine atoms. Examples of PFAS include perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) or perfluoronanoic acid (PFNA). Because they are both soluble in water and fats, they allow numerous applications: they are found in kitchen utensils as non-stick, waterproof materials such as GoreTex, fire-fighting foams in furniture, in waxes, varnishes, paints, cleaning products, etc. In the body, once absorbed, these compounds accumulate in the bloodstream, the liver, the kidney. These chemicals are called permanent because of their persistence in the environment and the human body.

PFAS would behave as potential diabetogens due to their structural similarity to fatty acids.

These compounds have previously been linked to lowered immunity. They are among the chemicals suspected of promoting autism and neurological diseases.

Read: 10 chemicals linked to autism and neurological disorders.

A risk equivalent to that of obesity

These compounds could increase the risk of diabetes in middle-aged women, according to data from the American SWAN study launched to assess the roles of several environmental pollutants in chronic diseases during and after menopause. In the current analysis, a total of 1237 women followed from 1999-2000 to 2017 were evaluated.

Depending on the type of individual PFAS, exposure is associated with a 36 to 85% increased risk of diabetes. Exposure to 7 PFAS in the form of mixtures was associated with a 2.62-fold increased risk of diabetes for the most exposed people, compared to the least exposed. This finding suggests a potential additive effect of multiple PFAS on diabetes risk, the authors noted. This risk is similar to that of being overweight and higher than that of smoking.

The results were published in Diabetologia. According to the authors of the study, “reduced exposure to these chemicals may be an important preventive approach to reducing the risk of diabetes on a population level“.

“Despite population-wide reductions in serum concentrations of some PFASwrite the authors, Almost all people are still exposed to these chemicals as well as countless alternatives and substitutes like short-chain PFAS, whether through drinking water, food, air, and consumer products, including cosmetics.”

People who live near industrial sites, military bases or wastewater treatment plants may be at particularly increased risk of PFAS exposure and incidence of diabetes, the researchers explained, noting that reducing exposure could help reduce these risks.

A link already described in other studies

Already in 2013, researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden wanted to know if PFAS were linked to diabetes. In fact, this team had already shown associations between certain environmental toxins and diabetes.

Read: Plastic phthalates increase the risk of diabetes

To do this, the researchers studied 1,016 men and women aged 70 between 2001 and 2004. Results: 7 PFAS substances were detected in almost all participants. There was a significant relationship between PFNA and diabetes: a risk of diabetes was observed for the highest PFNA values.

According to Monica Lind, who carried out this work, “ We saw that high levels, particularly of one of the perfluorinated compounds, perfluoronaoic acid (PFNA), were linked to diabetes. Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) was also associated with diabetes in this group. We also observed that PFOA was linked to an interruption of insulin secretion from the pancreas “.

Read: Even when eating healthy and organic, we poison ourselves with phthalates and bisphenol

Source

Lind L, Zethelius B, Salihovic S, van Bavel B, Lind PM. Circulating levels of perfluoroalkyl substances and prevalent diabetes in the elderly. Diabetology. 2013 Dec 14.