A new study out of the University of California, Berkeley suggests that chemicals called PBDEs may be making it difficult for women to conceive. PBDEs are chemicals with flame-retardant properties that are found in household items. In fact, nearly all Americans (97%) have PBDEs at detectable levels in their blood. After studying 223 pregnant women and the length of time it took them to conceive, researchers found that those with high levels of PBDEs were up to 50% less likely to get pregnant in a given month compared to women with lower levels. Currently, the majority of what we know about the effects of BPDEs are from studies with mice. Thus, more data is needed before a direct association with human fertility can be made. The study is published in this month’s Environmental Health Perspectives. [via U.S. News]
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Dr. Steven Chang, the author of DailyDose, is a staff physician with Kosmix RightHealth. Dr. Chang practices Family Medicine at the University of California Davis Medical Center, where his medical interests include both pediatric and geriatric care, public health, gay and lesbian health, and sleep medicine. Dr. Chang trained at the Stanford University affiliated O'Connor Hospital, and was a research fellow at the National Institute of Health. He holds an M.D. from McGill University and a BA in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.