BACKGROUND Previous studies have shown that women have higher urinary concentrations of several phthalate metabolites than do men, possibly because of a higher use of personal care products. Few studies have evaluated the association between phthalate metabolites, diabetes, and diabetes-related risk factors among women. OBJECTIVE We explored the association between urinary phthalate metabolit...

UNLABELLED Phthalates adversely affect the male reproductive system in animals. We investigated whether phthalate monoester contamination of human breast milk had any influence on the postnatal surge of reproductive hormones in newborn boys as a sign of testicular dysgenesis. DESIGN We obtained biologic samples from a prospective Danish-Finnish cohort study on cryptorchidism from 1997 to 2001...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW Phthalates are multifunctional chemicals used in personal care products, medications, and plastics. We reviewed the epidemiological literature examining the relationship between early life phthalate exposure and pediatric health outcomes. RECENT FINDINGS Five studies from Asia, Europe, and the United States suggest that childhood exposure to di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) ...

BACKGROUND Phthalates are compounds that are used in a wide range of consumer products. However, the contribution of dietary intake to phthalate exposure has not been well defined. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to assess the contribution of different food types to phthalate exposure. Phthalates are chemicals of concern because of the high levels measured in people and the environm...

Exposure to di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is prevalent based on the measurement of its hydrolytic metabolite mono-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP) in the urine of 78% of the general U.S. population studied in the 1999-2000 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). However, despite the high level of production and use of DEHP, the urinary MEHP levels in the NHANES samples we...

The International Agency for Research on Cancer classified the di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) as "possibly carcinogenic to humans". In vitro studies reported that phthalate exposure resulted in induction of several nuclear transcription factors that are activators of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) and telomerase activity of the human telomerase complex. The objective of this study wa...

BACKGROUND Phthalates are synthetic chemicals and ubiquitous environmental contaminants, with hormonal activity that may alter the course of pubertal development in children. OBJECTIVES To determine whether exposure to phthalate metabolites is associated with timing of pubertal development in a cross-sectional study of a school-based clustered sample of 503 children from a suburban district i...

BACKGROUND Although urinary concentrations of phthalate metabolites are frequently used as biomarkers in epidemiologic studies, variability during pregnancy has not been characterized. METHODS We measured phthalate metabolite concentrations in spot urine samples collected from 246 pregnant Dominican and African-American women. Twenty-eight women had repeat urine samples collected over a 6-wee...