According to a new study, when pregnant women use cosmetics containing parabens, their children may be more likely to become full, according to the online publication for girls and women from 14 to 35 years old Pannochka. net Parabens are chemicals that have long been used as a preservative in cosmetics and body care products. Several studies have suggested that parabens mimic estrogen in the body and may interfere with the normal function of hormones..

In a new study, scientists found parabens in the urine of pregnant women who used paraben-containing “leaving” products daily - makeup products, body lotion, or moisturizing face creams.

The higher the level of paraben in the urine, the greater the likelihood that the woman’s child will be overweight by 8 years.

A compound called butylparaben was isolated: children were twice as likely to be overweight when the prenatal level of butylparaben in their mothers was in the upper third compared to lower rates. Girls turned out to be hit harder than boys.

The findings do not prove that parabens are to blame, says researcher Irina Lehmann from the Berlin Institute of Health.

According to her, many factors contribute to excessive weight gain, including lack of exercise and too many calories consumed..

But this is not the first study to link the intrauterine exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals and children’s chances of being overweight, said Eva Tanner, a researcher at Icana School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York who analyzed the results.

“This work complements the growing body of evidence that prenatal exposure to chemicals found in common consumer products can harm the growth and development of the baby,” Tanner said.

Along with the study of mother-child couples, researchers searched for more direct evidence by experimenting with laboratory mice: they exposed pregnant mice to butylparaben in amounts comparable to those of women with the highest levels of a chemical substance in urine.

In the end, the offspring of the females of these mice had more fat compared to mice whose mothers were not exposed to butylparaben.

“With an animal model,” Lehmann said, “we can actually demonstrate that weight gain is caused by this paraben.”.

The experiment also gave some clues as to why: female babies born from mice exposed to parabens tended to eat more. They also showed evidence of a change in activity in a gene called POMC, which helps regulate appetite..

But why specifically women suffer, both humans and mice? According to Tobias Polt, another leading researcher, the fact that butylparaben affects estrogen activity suggests the role of the hormone.

But it’s not clear how the intrauterine exposure to “estrogenic” chemicals fits into the big picture, says Polt, from the Helmholtz-UFZ Center for Environmental Studies in Leipzig, Germany.

“Further research is needed to reproduce our epidemiological data and shed light on the mechanisms behind them,” Polt said..

The results, published February 11 in the journal Nature Communications, are based on data from a larger study of 629 mother-child couples.. At the 34th week of pregnancy, women reported using cosmetics containing paraben and gave urine samples.

Women who used cosmetics and paraben lotions every day usually had higher concentrations of parabens in their urine. But, Lehmann said, other sources could also contribute to these paraben levels.; chemicals are also used, for example, as preservatives in foods and? pharmaceutical preparations.

At this point, she has suggested that pregnant and lactating women choose paraben-free personal care products..

Tanner agreed. She noted that chemicals remain in the body only for a short time.. Thus, even if women used the parabens of their finished products, they can limit their effects at any time..

med-heal. ru.