Tuesday, February 2, 2010;
HE02
Adapted from The Post's daily health blog.
Common chemicals may affect fertility
A new study is raising fresh concerns about chemicals long used as flame retardant on carpet padding, furniture, computers and other products commonly found in homes and offices.
The chemicals are called polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, and they are being phased out in new products. As these materials age, they release PBDEs into house dust, creating long-lasting exposure. Previous research has found that 97 percent of Americans have detectable levels of the chemicals in their bodies.
Earlier studies have linked the chemicals to reproductive problems in animals. The new study is the first to examine the question in people.
Kim Harley, of the University of California at Berkeley, and colleagues conducted blood tests on 223 pregnant women living in California. They found PBDEs in 95 percent of the samples. But most worrisome, they found that women with higher levels took longer to become pregnant than those with lower levels. They reported their findings in a paper published online by the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
The researchers found that women who were actively trying to get pregnant were about half as likely to conceive in any given month if they had high levels of PBDE in their blood. They stressed that all the women did become pregnant and that more research is needed. But they said there was cause for concern, given how common the chemicals are in women's bodies.
-- Rob Stein
Diet firms work it out in court
A recent Jenny Craig ad features spokeswoman Valerie Bertinelli, clad in a white lab coat, claiming that "a major clinical trial" has shown that people on the Jenny Craig program lost twice as much weight as those in "the largest weight-loss program."
To which the folks at Weight Watchers -- otherwise known as the largest weight-loss program -- replied, "See you in court."
That court acted swiftly, supporting the Weight Watchers claim that no clinical trials, major or otherwise, pitting Weight Watchers against Jenny Craig had been conducted. Jenny Craig apparently compared decade-old Weight Watchers data with current Jenny Craig data and called it a trial. The court issued a temporary restraining order that prevents Jenny Craig from running the ad.
-- Jennifer LaRue Huget
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