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Food packaging contaminants and offspring reproductive health: Disease risks and underlying mechanisms
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Researchers reviewed how food-contact pollutants—including microplastics, bisphenol A, PFAS, heavy metals, and phthalates—disrupt offspring reproductive development through interconnected mechanisms involving endocrine disruption, oxidative stress, DNA damage, epigenetic changes, and inflammation, with evidence that effects can persist across generations.
Modern lifestyle factors, including dietary choices, significantly affect individual and intergenerational health. The widespread reliance on processed and takeout foods, along with the regular use of cosmetics and personal care products containing environmental contaminants, has increasingly been recognized as a potential risk to reproductive health and the developmental outcomes of the next generation. This study investigates the effects and underlying mechanisms of environmental pollutants in food plastic packaging on offspring reproductive health. By comprehensively analyzing existing research data, this article highlights the adverse impacts of these substances, including the endocrine-disrupting chemical bisphenol A, microplastics, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, heavy metals, and phthalates, on the development and function of the reproductive system in offspring. A comprehensive review of current literature shows that these pollutants disrupt gonadal development, impair gametogenesis, change reproductive organ structure, and increase the risk of reproductive disorders. Mechanistically, toxicity results not from single pathways but from complex, bidirectional interactions among endocrine disruption, oxidative stress, DNA damage, epigenetic changes, and inflammation. These interactions lead to lasting, and sometimes transgenerational, reproductive problems. By combining mechanistic insights and identifying key knowledge gaps, this review aims to raise public health awareness, guide evidence-based regulations, and lay a scientific groundwork for preventive strategies against intergenerational reproductive health risks caused by chemicals in food contact materials.
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This review summarized the evidence on how nano- and microplastics threaten reproduction and offspring health across multiple species, including fish, invertebrates, and mammals. The authors outlined potential mechanisms by which these plastic particles disrupt endocrine function, gonadal development, and embryonic development.
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