Common chemicals found in food packaging, pesticides, clothing, upholstery, carpets and cosmetics may make it harder for women to get pregnant, according to a new study by researchers from the University of California in Los Angeles.

 

These chemicals are known as perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) and are highly used in the industry because they are resistant to heat, and have the ability to repel water and oil. The bad news is that high concentrations of these chemicals have been shown to damage organs in animals. Co-author Chunyuan Fei said animal studies have demonstrated that PFCs “may have a variety of toxic effects on the liver, immune system and development and reproductive organs.”

 

For the study, the researchers collected data on 1,240 women who participated in the Danish National Birth Cohort. After analyzing women’s blood samples, they found that “75 percent of the women had concentrations that were associated with a longer waiting time [to pregnancy],” Jorn Olsen, MD, PhD, professor and chair of epidemiology at the University of California School of Public Health who was also involved in the study. Olsen is the head of the Danish National Birth Cohort at the University of Aarhus in Denmark.

 

The study found that women with high levels of PFCs in their blood were to one and a half time more likely to have waited more than a year to get pregnant compared with those with low levels. Some of them even required fertility treatments in order to conceive.

 

Olsen is now waiting for other researchers to confirm the link between fertility problems and PFCs.

 

The study was published online in the journal Human Reproduction.