Common chemicals may reduce vitamin D levels

• Exposure to certain common chemicals called endocrine-disrupting chemicals found in several consumer products, including plastic bottles, may reduce levels of vitamin D in the bloodstream, says a study.
• Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDC) are found in everyday products and throughout the environment. Bisphenol A (BPA), a known EDC, is often found in plastics and other consumer products.
• “Nearly every person on the planet is exposed to BPA and another class of endocrine-disrupting chemicals called phthalates, so the possibility that these chemicals may even slightly reduce vitamin D levels has widespread implications for public health,” said the study’s first author Lauren Johns from the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor.
• EDCs are chemicals or mixtures of chemicals that can cause adverse health effects by interfering with hormones in the body.
• “Vitamin D plays a broad role in maintaining bone and muscle health. In addition, low vitamin D levels have been implicated in outcomes of numerous conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer,” Johns said.
• The participants provided blood samples so their vitamin D levels could be measured. To measure EDC exposure, the participants had their urine analysed for substances left behind after the body metabolised phthalates and BPA.
• The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, found people who were exposed to larger amounts of phthalates were more likely to have low levels of vitamin D in the bloodstream than the participants who were exposed to smaller amounts of the EDCs.
• The link was strongest in women. There also was an association between exposure to higher levels of BPA and reduced vitamin D levels in women, although the relationship was not statistically significant in men.

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