Sunday, March 3, 2013

Chemicals in personal care products-- phthalates--may increase risk of diabetes in women


Brigham and Women's Hospital. "Chemicals in personal care products -- phthalates -- may increase risk of diabetes in women." ScienceDaily, 13 Jul. 2012. Web. 3 Mar. 2013. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120713083103.htm

In this article, the author explains how women with higher levels of the chemical Phthalate in their bodies could potentially lead to a higher risk of getting diabetes. Phthalates are chemicals that once in the body will disrupt the function of the endocrine system.  These phthalates are found in many personal care products that many women use on a daily basis, including nail polish, moisturizers, soaps, hairsprays, and perfumes.  The researchers conducted an experiment on many women, and found that the women with the higher levels of phthalate in their body were at a much higher risk of getting diabetes later in life.  It was determined that certain phthalates were linked to how big of a risk a woman was to have diabetes.  For example, women with mono-benzyl and mono-isobutyl phthalates in their body had a doubled risk of getting diabetes to those women who didn’t have those chemicals present in their body.  This research doesn’t directly link women with these phthalates in their body to diabetes but having those chemicals put them at a higher risk of getting diabetes.

I think this article was really eye opening to some of the possible diseases these types of chemicals can lead to.  It really shows that some of the things that we think are completely harmless and are said to “help our bodies”, such as moisturizers, are really not that helpful at all. This study didn’t directly link this chemical to getting diabetes but an increase in the risk of getting diabetes, so I don’t really think they know for sure if this will cause diabetes in women but it definitely brings up a concern.  If this chemical can increase the risk of diabetes it’s scary to think about what this chemical and others could possibly be capable of. 

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