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Phenols, Parabens, Phthalates and Puberty: a Systematic Review of Synthetic Chemicals Commonly Found in Personal Care Products and Girls’ Pubertal Development

  • Synthetic Chemicals and Health (ME Romano and T James-Todd, Section Editors)
  • Published:
Current Environmental Health Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals through personal care products (PCPs) is widespread and may disrupt hormone-sensitive endpoints, such as timing of puberty. Given the well-documented (and ongoing) decline in age at menarche in many populations, we conducted a systematic review of the epidemiological literature on exposure to chemicals commonly found in PCPs (including certain phthalates, phenols, and parabens) in relation to girls’ pubertal development.

Recent Findings

The preponderance of research on this topic has examined phthalate exposures with the strongest evidence indicating that prenatal monoethyl phthalate (MEP) concentrations may be associated with slightly earlier timing of puberty, including age at menarche. Findings examining peri-pubertal phthalate exposures and pubertal outcomes were less consistent as were studies of prenatal and peri-pubertal phenol exposures. Very few studies had examined parabens in relation to girls’ pubertal development. Common study limitations included potential exposure misclassification related to use of spot samples and/or mistimed biomarker assessment with respect to the outcomes. The role of body size as a mediator in these relationships remains unresolved.

Summary

Overall, evidence of associations between chemical exposures in PCPs and girls’ pubertal development was conflicting. When associations were observed, effect sizes were small. Nevertheless, given the many environmental, social, and behavioral factors in the modern environment that may act synergistically to accelerate timing of puberty, even marginal changes may be cause for concern, with implications for cancer risk, mental health, and cardiometabolic disease in later life.

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Data Availability

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate the assistance of Ms. Denise Rimple, MPH in the early stages of manuscript preparation.

Funding

NIH grants P30ES005022; T32ES019854

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, Rutgers University, 170 Frelinghuysen Rd, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA

    Zorimar Rivera-Núñez, Carolyn W. Kinkade & Emily S. Barrett

  2. Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Rutgers School of Public Health, 683 Hoes Lane West, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA

    Zorimar Rivera-Núñez, Amber Rockson, Elisa V. Bandera, Adana A. M. Llanos & Emily S. Barrett

  3. Robert Wood Johnson Library of the Health Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901, USA

    Yingting Zhang

  4. Cancer Epidemiology and Health Outcomes, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, 08903, USA

    Elisa V. Bandera

  5. Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Adana A. M. Llanos

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  1. Zorimar Rivera-Núñez
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Contributions

ZR-N: methodology, analysis, writing original draft, review, and editing. CK: methodology, analysis, writing original draft, review, and editing. YZ: methodology, literature search, review, and editing. AR: literature search, analysis, review, and editing. EB: methodology, review, and editing. AL: conceptualization, design, methodology, analysis, writing original draft, review, and editing. EB: conceptualization, design, methodology, analysis, writing original draft, review, and editing.

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Correspondence to Zorimar Rivera-Núñez.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Synthetic Chemicals and Health.

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Rivera-Núñez, Z., Kinkade, C.W., Zhang, Y. et al. Phenols, Parabens, Phthalates and Puberty: a Systematic Review of Synthetic Chemicals Commonly Found in Personal Care Products and Girls’ Pubertal Development. Curr Envir Health Rpt 9, 517–534 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-022-00366-4

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