Thread carefully: your gym clothes could be leaching toxic chemicals
LifeStyle
Our sweat helps the bad chemicals to come out of micro-plastic fibers
(Web Desk) - When we’re on the treadmill, we’re more likely to be thinking about what SZA track to queue up or whether we’re going to make it another mile than what’s in our workout clothing.
But your favorite sports bra or well-worn pair of leggings is likely to be made from synthetic fabrics like Spandex, nylon and polyester, all of which are essentially plastics.
These materials are made from petrochemicals and are often formulated with harmful chemical additives like phthalates and bisphenols.
Now, new research shows sweat leaches chemical additives from plastics and those chemicals are then available to be absorbed through our skin.
The study focused on a class of compounds called brominated flame retardants (BFR), which are used to prevent burning in a wide range of consumer products including fabrics, and are linked to adverse health effects such as thyroid disease, hormonal disruption and neurological issues.
Researchers at the University of Birmingham found that because sweat contains oil, and oil has a lipophilic chemical nature that encourages the chemicals in plastic to dissolve and diffuse, the oil in your body can leach chemicals from the plastics you touch.
In short, oily substances in our sweat “help the bad chemicals to come out of the microplastic fibers and become available for human absorption”, says Dr Mohamed Abdallah, an associate professor in environmental science at the University of Birmingham, and the principal investigator of the study.
The Birmingham team focused on flame retardants, which are added to some fabrics but not particularly associated with sportswear, and ran test cases based on how much sweat and plastic interface when people are just sitting around at home.
Further research is required to establish the type and quantity of chemicals a sweaty gym-goer would absorb from their synthetic workout wear and the gym environment.
But Abdallah says the study implies that other chemical plastic additives, like bisphenols (which have been found at up to 40 times the safe limit of exposure in items from popular sportswear brands), phthalates and PFAS, “may leach out into sweat and become available for dermal absorption”.
These findings can be “logically extrapolated in terms of someone who is running and sweating intensely”, he notes.
Essentially, the more you sweat, the more chemicals you could absorb.
Previously, researchers have tended to focus on our exposure to plastic through diet, but the Birmingham study raises awareness that humans can be exposed to plastic chemicals through our skin, too.
And because harmful chemicals in plastics bioaccumulate – or accrue slowly and stick around in our bodies – repeated and multi-source exposure can result in having high concentrations of chemicals inside us, potentially contributing to health effects.
