Did you know that some chemicals are so tough they can stay around forever? These are known as “forever chemicals”, or scientifically, PFAS.
They are in many everyday things like clothes, cooking utensils, and even our rivers.
Recently, scientists have found something alarming: these forever chemicals might make middle-aged women more likely to get a disease called diabetes.
Diabetes is a serious health problem where the body cannot control its sugar levels.
This disease affects millions of people and is one of the top causes of death in the United States. Hence, learning about new things that could cause diabetes is super important.
What are PFAS?
PFAS stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. These are man-made chemicals that are super strong and do not break down easily, hence the nickname, “forever chemicals”.
They’ve been used in all sorts of things since the 1940s, including non-stick cookware, water-repellent clothing, and even some types of food packaging.
Because they’re so tough, they can stick around in the environment and in our bodies for a long time.
Study of the ‘Forever Chemicals’
A professor named Sung Kyun Park led a team of researchers in a study about these forever chemicals. They wanted to see if there was a link between PFAS and diabetes.
They used samples from a big study called the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation. This study included almost 1,300 women between 45 and 56 years old from various cities in the United States.
The researchers checked the levels of 11 different types of PFAS in these women’s bodies. They used samples that had been collected between 1999 and 2000.
Over 16 years, about 100 of these women developed diabetes. When they looked at the results, they found that women who had diabetes had higher levels of five types of PFAS.
The Risk of Diabetes and PFAS
The scientists discovered that the risk of getting diabetes for women with high levels of PFAS was similar to other known risk factors, such as smoking cigarettes or being overweight.
This discovery was very surprising because, until now, most people didn’t know that PFAS could increase the risk of diabetes.
Professor Park said that doctors need to know about the link between PFAS and diabetes. That way, they can advise their patients about where they might come into contact with PFAS and how they might affect their health.
Looking Ahead
This discovery is just the beginning. The researchers hope that other scientists will carry out more studies to confirm their findings.
If these results are confirmed, then public health measures could be put in place to lower the amount of PFAS in drinking water and consumer products. This could help reduce the number of people who get diabetes.
Every year, about 1.5 million people are diagnosed with diabetes. Professor Park thinks that if we could reduce the amount of PFAS in the environment, as many as 370,000 of these cases could be avoided.
Reducing PFAS isn’t easy, because they’re everywhere, and they last forever.
However, with the right policies and strategies from organizations like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), we might be able to lower the levels of these chemicals.
This study shows us that sometimes, things that seem ordinary and harmless, like a non-stick pan or a water-repellent jacket, might have hidden risks.
The important thing is to keep asking questions and studying the world around us. Only then can we make sure we’re doing the best we can to stay healthy?
If you care about diabetes, please read studies about a cure for type 2 diabetes, and why insulin is more expensive for people with diabetes.
For more information about health, please see recent studies that blueberries strongly benefit people with metabolic syndrome, and results showing eggs in a plant-based diet may benefit people with type 2 diabetes.
The study was published in Diabetologia.
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