Unborn baby girls exposed to bisphenol-a can suffer permanent uterine changes that may eventually result in cancer. The process is thought to occur through alterations in their DNA.
The findings by researchers at Yale School of Medicine were reported in the March issue of Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB J.). Led by Hugh S. Taylor, M.D., professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at Yale, the study is the first to show that BPA exposure permanently affects the endocrine system, not only immediately in unborn babies, but also in the long term.
The study exposed one group of mice to BPA as a fetus during pregnancy and exposed another to a placebo. The mice exposed to BPA as a fetus had an exaggerated response to estrogens even as adults, many years after the exposure to BPA. So basically, their genes were permanently programmed to have a super-heightened sensitivity to estrogen.
What our mothers were exposed to in pregnancy may influence the rest of our lives. We need to better identify the effect of environmental contaminants on not just crude measures such as birth defects, but also their effect in causing more subtle developmental errors.
This study underlines the importance of avoiding BPA for pregnant moms and even moms-to-be. The easiest way to remove the greatest sources of BPA from your diet is to eat fresh foods and use a BPA-free water bottle with filtered water.
>> LEARN more about what bisphenol-a is, where it lurks and how to avoid it.
>> REVERSE the effects of BPA by increasing folate in your diet.
