Recently, a team from Texas A&M has found that exposure to bisphenol-A or BPA can worsen symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
This is the first study showing that BPA could harm gut microbial amino acid metabolism and increase the risk of IBD.
It is known that BPA exists in polycarbonate plastics that are commonly used in producing containers to store food and drinks, including water bottles.
Previous research has shown that IBD is a complex collection of diseases that include ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.
The health condition is caused by chronic inflammations of the digestive tract.
Common symptoms of the disease include severe diarrhea, abdominal pain, fatigue, and weight loss.
In countries that become more industrialized, the number of IBD increases quite fast.
Scientists have found that several factors, including smokings, diets, infections, altered gut microbiome, and pollutants may increase the risk of the disease.
They also have found that hormone estrogen is linked to a higher risk of IBD.
This is because BPA could act like estrogen and increase the risk of IBD.
Moreover, BPA may also alter gut microbes similarly to the way the gut microbiota is altered in IBD patients.
In the current study, the team examined the effects of BPA exposure in mice with IBD.
They tested how BPA could exacerbate colonic inflammation and alter microbiota metabolites.
They found that exposure to BPA could increase the levels of compounds that drive inflammation in the colon.
In addition, BPA could reduce levels of compounds produced by gut bacteria from the breakdown of protein.
These compounds are linked to serotonin production and breakdown. The reduction of the compounds has been linked to a higher risk of IBD.
The findings suggest that BPA exposure could increase mortality and worsen the disease symptoms compared with the untreated group.
The researchers suggest that BPA in daily products like plastic water bottles may pose a health risk to people’s health.
People need to better understand how things in the environment influence the risk of diseases like IBD.
The study lead author is Jennifer DeLuca.
The study is published in Experimental Biology and Medicine.
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