Do ‘forever chemicals’ age men faster? Experts urge caution on new study

Coined forever chemicals due to the years it takes for them to break down, PFAS are 'a group of thousands of human-made chemicals' commonly found in everyday items.

A new study spurring international headlines appears to suggest that pre- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals,” may be speeding up aging for men in their 50s and early 60s.

However, experts caution that proving cause and effect isn’t that simple.

Karl Jobst, associate professor at Memorial University, also noted that “the authors explicitly acknowledge their study design limits causal inference,” saying “it’s not possible to definitively link cause and effect.”

“Nevertheless, the observation of an association underscore the need to better understand the health effects associated with PFAS exposure,” he said in an emailed statement to Global News.

Published in the journal Frontiers in Aging, authors of the study — which has been widely reported on across international media in recent days — used public data from a randomly chosen group of 326 older women and men enrolled in 1999 and 2000 in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Each had donated a blood sample, which was used to measure the concentration of 11 PFAS.

“These findings underscore the need to regulate emerging PFAS and integrate epigenetic biomarkers into environmental health risk assessments.”

Tarek Rouissi, assistant professor at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, pointed out that the age ranges the study focused on were “surprising” to him.

“I think it’s confirming what we have observed in the last 10 to 15 years regarding this area of research,” he said.