A chemical in plastics is tied to heart disease deaths
In 2018, more than 350,000 excess heart disease deaths were linked to phthalatesA chemical
Some plastic food packaging contains phthalates, which are chemicals added to make the plastic flexible. One phthalate, known as DEHP, could be responsible for 13.5 percent of deaths from cardiovascular disease in 2018, according to a new study.
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By Skyler Ware
May 12, 2025 at 11:00 am
A common chemical in household plastics has been linked with heart disease deaths.
In 2018, about 13.5 percent of the more than 2.6 million deaths from cardiovascular disease among people ages 55 to 64 globally could have been related to exposure to a type of chemical called a phthalate, researchers report April 28 in eBioMedicine.
Phthalates are a group of chemicals found in shampoos, lotions, food packaging and medical supplies including blood bags. The chemicals are often added to plastics to make them softer and more flexible.
Phthalates can enter the body when you consume contaminated food, breathe them in or absorb them through the skin. Once inside, they act as endocrine disruptors, which means they affect hormones. Previous research has also linked the chemicals to diabetes, obesity, pregnancy complications and heart disease.
The new study looked at one particular phthalate, known as di-2-ethylhexylphthalate, or DEHP, which is often added to PVC plastics to soften them. Sara Hyman, a research scientist at NYU Langone Health, and colleagues focused on the relationship between DEHP exposure levels and cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death worldwide. Hyman and colleagues compared estimated DEHP exposure in 2008 with death rates from cardiovascular disease ten years later in different parts of the world. By studying how the two changed together, they determined what portion of those deaths might be attributable to phthalates.
More than 350,000 excess deaths worldwide were associated with DEHP exposure in 2018, the team found. About three-quarters of those occurred in the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific. This disparity might be due to the regions’ growing plastics industries, the researchers suggest. The new work does not show that DEHP exposure directly causes heart disease, though — only that there’s an association between the two.
More:
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/chemical-plastics-heart-disease-deaths
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