Maternal Paraben Exposure Triggers Childhood Overweight Development

Overview

Journal Nat Commun

Specialty Biology

Date 2020 Feb 13

PMID 32047148

Citations 25

Authors

Beate Leppert

Sandra Strunz

Bettina Seiwert

Linda Schlittenbauer

Rita Schlichting

Christiane Pfeiffer

Stefan Roder

Mario Bauer

Michael Borte

Gabriele I Stangl

Torsten Schoneberg

Angela Schulz

Isabell Karkossa

Ulrike E Rolle-Kampczyk

Loreen Thurmann

Martin von Bergen

Beate I Escher

Kristin M Junge

Thorsten Reemtsma

Irina Lehmann

Tobias Polte

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Parabens are preservatives widely used in consumer products including cosmetics and food. Whether low-dose paraben exposure may cause adverse health effects has been discussed controversially in recent years. Here we investigate the effect of prenatal paraben exposure on childhood overweight by combining epidemiological data from a mother-child cohort with experimental approaches. Mothers reporting the use of paraben-containing cosmetic products have elevated urinary paraben concentrations. For butyl paraben (BuP) a positive association is observed to overweight within the first eight years of life with a stronger trend in girls. Consistently, maternal BuP exposure of mice induces a higher food intake and weight gain in female offspring. The effect is accompanied by an epigenetic modification in the neuronal Pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) enhancer 1 leading to a reduced hypothalamic POMC expression. Here we report that maternal paraben exposure may contribute to childhood overweight development by altered POMC-mediated neuronal appetite regulation.

Citing Articles

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