# Metabolic Health Risk Among Mid-Life Women: The Roles of Toxicants, Inflammation, and Epigenetics

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2020 · $626,183

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
Among women, incidence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) increases in midlife, when hormonal changes
promote visceral fat accumulation and higher circulating inflammatory markers. Lifestyle behaviors are well-
established risk factors for cardiometabolic disease, but less is known about the potential for short-term
changes in health behaviors to reduce inflammation and MetS during peri-/menopause, when women are more
likely to seek health care. Phthalates and phenols, 2 classes of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) found
in foods, plastics and personal care products, have been linked to higher MetS among women primarily in
cross-sectional studies. Inflammation is one plausible pathway connecting these EDC exposures to the
development and progression of MetS in midlife but literature on toxicants infrequently accounts for health
behaviors as confounders or effect modifiers. Thus, evaluating the interaction between toxicants and other
lifestyle factors--including diet, sleep, and physical activity--is a critical gap in understanding the role of EDC
exposures on changes in inflammation and MetS development among women in mid-life. Epigenetic
alterations may also serve as biomarkers of EDC-metabolic relationships, since these EDCs have the potential
to affect the epigenome; i.e. heritable alterations to gene expression that do not alter the DNA sequence itself.
The influence of gestational exposures on the offspring epigenome is well-known, but other life course periods
potentially vulnerable to effects of toxicants through epigenetic mechanisms—including aging--are less studied.
The Early Life Exposures in Mexico to Environmental Toxicants (ELEMENT) cohort is uniquely positioned to
address these research gaps, given length of follow up and repeated measures of toxicants and diet, sleep and
physical activity. Among 600 women followed since pregnancy who now span peri-/menopausal ages, we will
leverage archived data and biospecimens from adulthood in 2008, and newly collected data from 2 mid-life
visits over 3 years (2019-20, 2022-24). Specific Aims are to: 1) Ascertain the role of exposure to phenols and
phthalates in adulthood on the development and progression of MetS in mid-life; 2) Investigate the
inflammatory mechanisms that underlie associations between exposure to phenols and phthalates and
changes in metabolic outcomes over 2 mid-life visits; 3) Uncover other biological pathways that link phenol and
phthalate exposures prospectively to MetS and progression in midlife using an epigenetics approach. MetS
prevalence is increasing dramatically worldwide--understanding the impact of EDCs that women are exposed
to daily on midlife cardiometabolic risk and the exact nature of these pathways will provide critical new
knowledge to aid in prevention and management of MetS in women as they age.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10071747
- **Project number:** 1R01ES032330-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** Karen Eileen Peterson
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $626,183
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-09-25 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10071747

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10071747, Metabolic Health Risk Among Mid-Life Women: The Roles of Toxicants, Inflammation, and Epigenetics (1R01ES032330-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10071747. Licensed CC0.

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