There’s more reason to steer clear of Bisphenol A (BPA) than its now-notoriouslink to cancer and other health problems; and the risks it poses especially for children. Now, a recent study provides evidence that BPA also contributes to obesity and insulin resistance, which can lead to diabetes.

To some people, this may not sound like news, but the study, published in PLoS ONE, pinpoints just how this works, an understanding that was lacking before.

Insulin Overload

The study found that BPA triggers the release of insulin in nearly twice the amount as when glucose is ingested—and high insulin levels can lead to insulin resistance and potentially to weight gain and Type 2 diabetes.

HuffPost explains exactly how this works:

To achieve this feat, BPA fools a receptor into thinking it is the natural hormone estrogen, an insulin regulator. Nadal’s team found that even the tiniest amounts of BPA — a quarter of a billionth of a gram — did the trick. The effect disappeared when the researchers stripped the specific receptors from the study mice, evidence that they had in fact pinpointed BPA’s chemical mechanism, which had previously eluded scientists.

Found both in and outside of our food supply, BPA often seems like it’s everywhere and impossible to avoid. It’s important to remember that BPA is not the only problem we face—but it’s something that does present clear risks, and the link with obesity and diabetes is just another reason to avoid it when possible.

More background from HuffPost:

“When you eat something with BPA, it’s like telling your organs that you are eating more than you are really eating,” says Angel Nadal, a BPA expert at the Miguel Hernendez University in Spain…

An estimated 90 percent of people in developed countries have BPA circulating in their blood at levels often higher than the threshold for causing hormone disruption used in Nadal’s study. This high incidence is due not only to exposures from leeching food packages but also BPA-infused cash register receipts, dental sealants and toilet paper.

“People are seeing effects of BPA down to 1000-fold below [Nadal's threshold],” adds Frederick vom Saal, another expert in endocrine disruptors at the University of Missouri-Columbia. “It takes so little of this chemical to cause harm.”

 

In recent months several interesting papers have come out regarding the behavior of the Toxoplasma gondii organism, and its effect on human health.

Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan that infects mostly outdoor cats (they get the parasite from rodent prey). The Toxoplasma parasite is the one that can cause brain damage in unborn children, and is the reason that women are warned to avoid changing the litter box during pregnancy.

The organism reproduces in cats, and uses rodents as its vector, but human and ruminants (cows, sheep, etc.) can be its dead-end host (meaning it will live in these hosts but cannot complete its lifecycle). Most healthy, adult animals other than rodents seemed to be unaffected by T. gondii infection and the subsequent deposition of seemingly inert oocysts that the parasite makes in muscles and brain tissue, but new research, and research that has been ongoing for some time in Prague, shows that this may not be the case.

New Research
First, several brilliant pieces of research have been circulating for some time about the parasite’s ability to control the behavior of infected rodents. Apparently, the parasite takes control of the rodent’s brain and not only interferes with its ability to respond to danger, but also makes male rodents find the smell of cat urine attractive.

This is win win for the cats and the parasites who want into the cats, it’s far from optimal for the rodent. Once inside the cat, the parasite reproduces, and starts the entire ball rolling again.

Schizophrenia

In an incredible article in the March 2012 Atlantic Monthly by Kathleen McAuliffe, Prague scientist Jaroslav Flegr discusses evidence of the effect of T. gondii infection on human behavior, schizophrenia, traffic accidents and the like. The evidence at this point is compelling that the previously innocuous oolyte cysts that take up residence in the brains of humans infected by T. gondii may not be so innocuous after all. According to the article, T. gondii may trigger schizophrenia in those predisposed to it. It can also make men more introverted, suspicious, oblivious to other’s opinions of them, and more likely to ignore rules. In women it produced opposite symptoms, causing them to become more outgoing, trusting, image-conscious, and rule abiding than uninfected women. Dr. Flegr also shows that T. gondii may slow response rates, limit fear, and otherwise trigger similar reactions in humans that are triggered in rats. Human males – like male rats, also find the scent of cat urine less offputting than their uninfected counterparts.

Suicide

In a twenty country study conducted in 2011 and published in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, T. gondii infection seemed to have a strong correlation with suicide in women. Also, according to this paper, roughly one-third of the world’s population is infected with this disease.

How do you prevent your cat from giving you toxoplasmosis? Well, the good news is that even infected cats only shed the parasite for a few weeks. Second, if your cat is indoors, and never fed undercooked meat (another way that you or your cat can contract the disease) you are in the clear. Lastly, the simple expedient of washing your hands after cleaning the litter box, and keeping cats off of surfaces where food is prepared (or thoroughly washing those surfaces prior to preparation), will minimize contact with the parasite.

Toxoplasma gondii is found world wide. It needs rodents and cats to complete its lifecycle.  Keeping cats indoors, using common sense safety measures when preparing food and the like will go a long way. Your veterinarian can test your cat for T. gondii, but, as most outdoor cats have been exposed, and the tests says nothing about the shedding of the parasite, the test will do little for your safety.

These research papers are a beginning, and if the trend towards a T. gondii relation to mental disorders, behavioral changes, and suicides continues on its current trajectory, there may soon be movement towards the creation of a T. gondii vaccine for livestock and cats. At this point, there is no way for the oocysts, once they take up residence in the brain, to be removed. There is a test for the disease available for humans. What a result may or may not tell you, at this point, is far from certain.

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