“People are exposed to phthalates daily, increasing their risk of several metabolic diseases. It’s important that we address [endocrine-disrupting chemicals] now as they are harmful to human health,” Sung Kyun Park, ScD, of the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor, said in a Feb. 8 statement.
Researchers collected data from more than 1,300 women in a longitudinal six-year study who did not have diabetes and kept track of the levels of the chemical in urine samples. As the levels increased, the chemical, which is already known to be linked with a risk of diabetes, in turn caused a higher incident rate for the women who did have increases in these levels.
However, researchers noted the results were not “statistically significant” enough to determine this for sure.
