BPA Linked to Low Birth Weights in Baby Girls

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bpa-linked-to-low-birth-weights-in-baby-girls/?WT.mc_id=SA_WR_20150930

By Brian Bienkowski and Environmental Health News | September 25, 2015

Girls born to mothers with high levels of BPA in their system during the first trimester of pregnancy weigh less at birth than babies with lower exposure, according to a new study.

The study adds to evidence that fetal exposure to the ubiquitous chemical bisphenol-A (BPA) may contribute to fetal developmental problems. Low birth weights are linked to a host of health problems later in life, such as obesity, diabetes, infertility and heart disease.

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Bottom line: more BPA in woman’s blood meant babies weighed less. For every doubling in free, or unconjugated, BPA in the mothers’ first-term blood, babies weighed, on average, 6.5 ounces less. The research was published today in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Similarly, for every doubling of free-BPA in the woman’s blood at birth, babies weighed on average 3 ounces less.

“Having small babies at birth is a risk factor for a whole bunch of different things,” said Laura Vandenberg, an assistant professor of environmental health at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who was not involved in the study.

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Unfortunately for pregnant women, BPA—used to make polycarbonate plastic and found in some food cans and paper receipts—is found in most people.

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