Gut Microbes May Help Body Rid Itself of ‘Forever Chemicals’
Certain kinds of gut microbes absorb toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” and help expel them from the body via feces, new first-of-it’s-kind university of cambridge research shows.
The findings are welcome news as the only options that exist for reducing the level of perilous PFAS compounds from the body are bloodletting and a cholesterol drug that induces unpleasant side effects.The microbes were found to remove up to 75% of some PFAS from the gut of mice. Several of the study’s authors plan to develop probiotic dietary supplements that boost levels of helpful microbes in the human gut, wich would likely reduce PFAS levels.
“If this could be used in humans to create probiotics that can definitely help remove PFAS from the body then this would be a nicer solution in that it wouldn’t have so many side effects,” said Anna Lindell, Cambridge doctoral student and a co-author of the study.
PFAS are a class of about 15,000 compounds most frequently used to make products water-, stain- and grease-resistant. They have been linked to cancer, birth defects, decreased immunity, high cholesterol, kidney disease and a range of other serious health problems. They are dubbed “forever chemicals” because they do not naturally break down in the habitat.The US Environmental Protection Agency has found no level of exposure to PFOS or PFOA, two of the most common PFAS compounds, in drinking water is safe.They have a half-life in human blood of anywhere from two to five years, by most estimates. That means the body expels half the amount of the chemical that is in blood during that period. Depending on blood levels,it can take decades to fully expel PFAS naturally.
Though the findings represent the first time gut microbes have been found to remove PFAS, they have been found to alleviate the impacts of other contaminants, such as microplastics.
The researchers didn’t set out to determine if the gut bacteria expelled PFAS specific