Exposure to the harmful chemical bisphenol A (BPA) early in life can have a negative impact on the mental health, a team of researchers from NC State University say. They also found the effectiveness of a diet rich in soy solving this problem.
BPA is a chemical found in many plastic bottles and beverage cans. It has been linked to health issues such as cancer, nuerological issues, heart disease and reproductive problems.
About 5 or 6 million pounds of bisphenol is produced every year, worldwide, a latest report from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said. Exposure to the chemical occurs through ingestion of foods in contact with the BPA containing materials. Direct oral contact or hand-to-mouth contact with the chemical containing material put small children at a risk of the chemical exposure.
"We knew that BPA could cause anxiety in a variety of species, and wanted to begin to understand why and how that happens," said Dr. Heather Patisaul, an associate professor of biology at NC State and lead author of a paper, in a statement.
Investigators conducted experiments on rats to examine the risks of being exposed to BPA and the power of soy-rich food in treating the damage. The rats, exposed to BPA were divided into two groups, based on the type of food they were given - soy-free or soy-rich.
At the end of the experiments, the investigators found exposure to BPA causing gene expression changes in the particular area of brain amygdala, leading to high level of anxiety in the rats belonging to the soy-free diet group. However, this negative impact was found lacking in the rats which received the soy-rich food.
"Soy contains phytoestrogens that can also affect the endocrine system, which regulates hormones," Patisaul explained. "It is not clear whether these phytoestrogens are what mitigate the effect of BPA, or if it is something else entirely. That's a question we're hoping to address in future research."
Findings of the study have been published in the journal PLOS ONE.
