You’ve probably heard that you should limit your salt intake, especially if you have high blood pressure. Because it causes your body to retain water, it puts additional strain on your heart and blood vessels.

Salt, as well as worry and anger, can all cause an increase in blood pressure. Although transient “spikes” aren’t always a problem, persistently high amounts might cause considerable harm.

New research published today in Hypertension found that middle-aged women with higher levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also called “forever chemicals” and found in water, soil, air, and food were at greater risk of developing high blood pressure than their peers with lower levels of these chemicals.

PFAS are a class of synthetic chemicals that are found in daily home items such as shampoo, dental floss, cosmetics, non-stick cookware, food packaging, and stain-resistant coatings for carpets, upholstery, and clothing, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.

The “forever chemicals” also reach the food supply via fish obtained from PFAS-contaminated water and dairy products from cows exposed to PFAS through agricultural fertilizers, for instance.

PFAS has been demonstrated in studies to have negative health consequences even at low blood levels. Endothelial dysfunction (impaired blood vessel function), oxidative stress, and increased cholesterol have all been linked to PFAS exposure. However, no previous research has looked into whether PFAS levels have an impact on blood pressure control in middle-aged women.

Nearly all Americans have measurable levels of at least one PFAS in their blood, according to statistics from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) that were previously published.

“PFAS are known as ‘forever chemicals’ because they never degrade in the environment and contaminate drinking water, soil, air, food and numerous products we consume or encounter routinely,” says study lead author Ning Ding, adding “one study estimated that two of the most common ’forever chemicals’ are found in most household drinking water and are consumed by more than two-thirds of Americans.”

“Women seem to be particularly vulnerable when exposed to these chemicals,” she highlights. “Our study is the first to examine the association between ‘forever chemicals’ and hypertension in middle-aged women. Exposure may be an underappreciated risk factor for women’s cardiovascular disease risk.”

The team analyzed blood concentrations of particular PFAS and the risk of high blood pressure using data from the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation-Multi-Pollutant Study (SWAN-MPS), a prospective study of women from varied racial and cultural backgrounds in midlife.

More than 1,000 women between the ages of 45 and 56 who had normal blood pressure when they entered the study were examined. At the start of the trial, PFAS concentrations in the blood were measured.

From 1999 to 2017, all participants were tracked practically annually. Participants came from five different institutions across the United States (Boston, Pittsburgh, Southeast Michigan, Los Angeles, and Oakland, California), and they self-identified as Black (15.2 percent), Chinese (14.1 percent), Japanese (16.2 percent), or white women (54.5 percent ). All locations enrolled non-Hispanic white women, as well as one other racial/ethnic group.

According to the findings of the investigation:

• 470 women developed high blood pressure during the study’s 11,722 person-years of follow-up.
• Women in the highest one-third concentrations of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), and 2-(N-ethyl-perfluorooctane sulfonamido) acetic acid (EtFOSAA, a PFOS precursor) had 42 percent, 47 percent, and 42 percent higher risks, respectively, of developing high blood pressure,
• Women who had the highest one-third concentrations of all seven PFAS tested had a 71 percent higher risk of having high blood pressure.

“It’s important to note that we examined individual PFAS as well as several PFAS together, and we found that the combined exposure to multiple PFAS had a stronger effect on blood pressure,” adds Sung Kyun Park, study senior author.

The study author emphasizes that these findings “make it clear that strategies to limit the widespread use of PFAS in products” and “switching to alternative options may help reduce the incidence of high blood pressure risk in midlife women.”

“We have known for some time that PFAS disrupt metabolism in the body, yet, we didn’t expect the strength of the association we found. We hope that these findings alert clinicians about the importance of PFAS and that they need to understand and recognize PFAS as an important potential risk factor for blood pressure control,” Park said.

Only middle-aged women participated in the study, therefore the results may not apply to men or younger or older women. More research is needed to validate these correlations and to identify measures to limit PFAS exposure, according to the authors.

Image Credit: Getty

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