Todd Hagobian, PhD, will be examining whether oral consumption of Bisphenol A (BPA) is another contributing factor of type 2 diabetes.
Cal Poly researchers hope a newly received American Diabetes Association grant will allow them to further explore unknown environmental and chemical causes of type 2 diabetes, and eventually make public health recommendations to help reduce the disease’s prevalence. Diet, physical activity, obesity and genetics all play a role in contributing to type 2 diabetes, which affects more than 29 million Americans. These factors only explain 30-60 percent of causation. As part of his new grant, Todd Hagobian, PhD, Kinesiology & Public Health professor and Center for Health Associate Director, will be examining whether oral consumption of Bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical used to make plastics, cans and other food storage containers, is another contributing factor of type 2 diabetes.
To do so, Hagobian and his team will be determining whether four days of consumption of BPA alters type 2 diabetes risk markers. They will be recruiting 40 healthy men and women to participate in 2-days of preliminary tests and four days of treatment while their sleep and eat in Cal Poly facilities. Study volunteers will be randomized into two groups, and will either be given a small amount of BPA or a placebo; participants and research staff will be masked to the group condition. Participants will be paid a maximum of $500 for their participation, and offered two-days of fresh food to reduce BPA levels.
As a preliminary test, Hagobian and his team, conducted one of only known studies in humans and found that consumption of a single, oral BPA does immediately decreased glucose responses to an oral glucose tolerance test over 3 hours. Through this more extensive project, they hope to inform public health recommendations for food packaging.
Todd Hagobian (pictured above), Kinesiology & Public Health Professor, received an ADA grant to study BPA and risk of type 2 diabetes.
