PFAS are present in everyday consumer items like non-stick cookware.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are packed into countless useful everyday items, such as non-stick frying pans, water-resistant raincoats, food packaging, and cleaning products. The problems with PFAS start when molecules of these substances hop off of these consumer items and into the environment or people’s bodies. PFAS contain rock-solid covalent bonds between carbon and fluorine atoms, which are exceptionally hard to break down. This has led to concerned researchers dubbing PFAS “forever chemicals.” These substances’ impact on our world and our health is still being studied, but scientists have linked them to developmental problems, cancer, preeclampsia, and immune dysfunction.1
In 2024, researchers conducting the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) added accelerated aging to the long list of health conditions that PFAS contribute to.2 The team suggested that PFAS mediated this effect by increasing inflammation. Now, another group of scientists examining the same dataset has shown that certain groups are more vulnerable to this PFAS-linked aging, with middle-aged men at the greatest risk.3 The researchers published their findings in Frontiers in Aging.
PFAS Made Epigenetic Clocks Tick Faster
Xiangwei Li, a study coauthor and epidemiologist at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and his colleagues analyzed data from 326 older women and men in NHANES. These individuals were randomly selected but representative of the wider US population. Each of these individuals had donated a blood sample to NHANES and completed questionnaires detailing their demographic, socioeconomic, and lifestyle information. The team measured the concentration of 11 PFAS in their blood and fed methylation data from the donors’ DNA into 12 epigenetic clock algorithms, which used this information to assess their biological age.
The team detected the PFAS perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) and perfluorooctanesulfonamide (PFOSA) in 95 percent of the participants. PFNA and PFOSA, both invented in the middle of the 20th century, are still used widely today in consumer products designed to be stain-, grease-, and water-repellent.
In the study, each epigenetic clock algorithm included an acceleration metric, which captured how much an individual’s biological age was older than their chronological age. In middle-aged men whose chronological age was between 50 and 64, PFNA and PFOSA were linked to accelerated aging in some of the aging algorithms. The team didn’t see the same link in women.
The team found five other types of PFAS in high concentrations in at least 75 percent of the individuals in the study, but none of these chemicals were linked to accelerated aging. Men didn’t accumulate more of any PFAS than women.
What Makes Men More Vulnerable to PFAS?
The researchers said that middle-aged men may be most vulnerable to PFAS due to a combination of biological and environmental factors. “Midlife is a sensitive biological window where the body becomes more susceptible to age-related stressors, which may explain why this group responds more strongly to chemical exposure,” said Ya-Qian Xu, a study coauthor and environmental researcher at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, in a statement.
Li added, “We suspect that men may be at higher risk because the aging markers we analyzed are heavily influenced by lifestyle factors such as smoking, which can compound the damaging effects of these pollutants.”
In 2001, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants targeted some legacy PFAS, such as perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, perfluorooctanoic acid, and perfluorohexane sulfonate, for worldwide elimination, but Li said that the new data suggest that newer substances are risky too.
In Europe, regulation efforts around PFAS are accelerating. France has banned the chemicals in clothing and cosmetics, and the European Union is considering further restrictions across its member states.
“Meanwhile, to reduce risk, individuals can try to limit their consumption of packaged foods and avoid microwaving fast-food containers. Looking ahead, we are actively modeling how PFAS interacts with other common pollutants, as we need to understand the cumulative health risks of these chemical mixtures,” said Li.
#Chemicals #Accelerate #Aging #MiddleAged #Men
