LOS ANGELES Los Angeles: According to new research, the link between per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, and kidney damage may be due to an imbalance of the gut microbiota, which is made up of bacteria and other microorganisms that live in the digestive tract. .PFAS are chemicals that are made and used in a variety of items, including furniture and food packaging. These are often referred to as “forever chemicals” because once they accumulate in the environment or human body, they take a long time to break down.
This group of chemicals is known to increase the risk of a variety of health problems, including heart disease, cancer, and chronic kidney disease, but the biological mechanisms behind that risk are poorly understood. PFAS does occur, and these chemicals are associated with many negative health effects. But we don't have any known interventions to reduce PFAS in the body, so we can't really give recommendations to help,” says USC. said Hailey Hampson, PhD, postdoctoral fellow in population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine, lead author of the new study.
The findings of research funded in part by the National Institutes of Health are beginning to connect the dots between that problem and potential solutions. Building on previous studies that linked kidney damage to both PFAS and gut problems, the research team analyzed all three factors together for the first time. They found that increased exposure to PFAS was associated with worse kidney function after four years, And changes in the gut microbiome and related metabolites accounted for up to 50 percent of that reduction in function. The results were recently published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.
These findings, which join with other studies of PFAS, including longitudinal research by the Keck School of Medicine, provide initial clues about kidney protection from PFAS-related damage. “Our findings are an important piece of the puzzle about the many different health risks of PFAS, which can provide policymakers with information that helps them develop policies to protect the public from exposure to these chemicals. Are,” Jesse A.
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