Phenols, found in many products, could upset heart's rhythms

Chemicals called environmental phenols include food preservatives, plastics ingredients such as BPA and the parabens in shampoos, so they are ubiquitous in everyday life.

Now, University of Cincinnati research suggests that higher exposure to phenols might trigger changes in the heart's electrical system and rhythms.

“This is the first study to look at the impact of phenol exposure on cardiac electrical activity in humans,” said Hong-Sheng Wang, PhD, a professor in the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology and Neurobiology in the College of Medicine and the study's lead author.

His team's worked was recently featured in U.S. News & World Report.

Their findings were especially true for women. High exposures to three phenols — BPA, BPF and BPA+F — were tied to what cardiologists call a longer PR interval. That's a delay in the time it takes for electrical signals to move from the atria at the top of the heart to the ventricles, the researchers explained.

Weight also seemed to play a role, since this relationship "was particularly pronounced in women with higher body mass indexes," said Wang.

Men weren't off the hook, though. In males, higher exposure to the phenol triclocarban (TCC) was associated with another aberration — longer QT intervals in the heart. This means the heart’s electrical system waits too long to recharge, a phenomenon that can prompt heart rhythm dysfunction.

The findings were published recently in the journal Environmental Health.

But Wang stressed all of the changes in heart activity "were not dramatic changes that we observed, but moderate changes to cardiac electrical activity."

“However, they were particularly pronounced in certain subpopulations," he noted.

Click here to read the original UC News report about the research.

Featured image at top: A vital signs monitor in a hospital setting. Photo/istock/Bevan Goldswain.