In young children, PFOS exposure can impede healthy bone development. In adults, PFOS exposure can degrade bone structure over time, eventually leading to more serious bone problems like osteoporosis.
Published on December 6 in the journal Environmental Research, the study was uniquely structured in that it tracked associations between bone density and blood serum levels of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which include PFOS.
"Existing research had established associations between PFAS and bone health, but previous studies, most of them only collected information at one time point from participants," commented Emily Beglarian, a PhD student at the University of Southern California's (USC) Keck School of Medicine and lead author of the study.
"Additionally, many existing studies were focused on non-Hispanic, white participants and many focused on older adults."
According to Beglarian, Hispanics are often not included in this kind of research on bone health, even though they, too, have a high risk of developing osteoporosis as adults.
(Related: Another concern worth paying attention to involves mRNA-contaminated meat – make sure your food is clean and mRNA-free!)
Research into forever chemicals a new concept
Up until now, very little research has been done period on forever chemicals and their impact on human health. Beglarian further commented that evaluating the safety of forever chemicals in conjunction with bone development and health is "a pretty new area of study."
For her team's research, Beglarian looked at data on a cohort of children aged eight through 13 who were recruited between 2001 and 2012. For about a year and a half, these children received follow-up appointments to keep tabs on their bone health in relation to their forever chemical exposure.
Over time, Beglarian et al. calculated the participants' bone density in conjunction with measurements of five common PFAS chemicals. A young adult group was recruited later on after more PFAS regulations were put in place, resulting in this group having lower overall blood serum levels of PFAS.
Even with less PFAS inside their bodies, the young adults group still showed concerning signs of bone problems, said Jesse Goodrich, an assistant professor of population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine. Goodrich is also one of the new study's lead authors.
"Even though we saw lower levels in the young adults that were measured more recently, we still saw very similar results, very consistent results between the two cohorts," Goodrich commented.
"Even though there are some regulations that are lowering [PFAS] levels, we really need larger policies to fully eradicate these, if possible."
The next step for the team involves investigating whether the associations observed between bone problems and forever chemicals remain consistent over a person's lifetime. They also want to determine how PFAS work at the cellular level to reduce bone mineral density.
"Some of the PFAS that we were exposed to then are different than what we're exposed to now because there are emerging PFAS that are becoming more common," Beglarian added, noting that she and her team also hope to determine the effects of newer types of PFAS that did not exist when the initial cohort was compiled.
"In our newer studies, we want to see if we can look at the newer, unregulated PFAS to see if and how those affect bone health to understand what regulations we might need moving forward."
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