UC Davis Study: Triclosan May Weaken Muscles -- Including Heart Muscle
From a UC Davis press release. Research is not in humans, but it's not looking good in the mice and the fishies:
Triclosan, an antibacterial chemical widely used in hand soaps and other personal-care products, hinders muscle contractions at a cellular level, slows swimming in fish and reduces muscular strength in mice, according to researchers at the University of California, Davis, and the University of Colorado. The findings appear online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America."Triclosan is found in virtually everyone's home and is pervasive in the environment," said Isaac Pessah, professor and chair of the Department of Molecular Biosciences in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and principal investigator of the study. "These findings provide strong evidence that the chemical is of concern to both human and environmental health."
Triclosan is commonly found in antibacterial personal-care products such as hand soaps as well as deodorants, mouthwashes, toothpaste, bedding, clothes, carpets, toys and trash bags. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1998 estimated that more than 1 million pounds of triclosan are produced annually in the United States, and that the chemical is detectable in waterways and aquatic organisms ranging from algae to fish to dolphins, as well as in human urine, blood and breast milk.
The investigators performed several experiments to evaluate the effects of triclosan on muscle activity, using doses similar to those that people and animals may be exposed to during everyday life.
In "test tube" experiments, triclosan impaired the ability of isolated heart muscle cells and skeletal muscle fibers to contract. Specifically, the team evaluated the effects of triclosan on molecular channels in muscle cells that control the flow of calcium ions, creating muscle contractions. Normally, electrical stimulation ("excitation") of isolated muscle fibers under experimental conditions evokes a muscle contraction, a phenomenon known as "excitation-contraction coupling," the fundamental basis of any muscle movement, including heartbeats. But in the presence of triclosan, the normal communication between two proteins that function as calcium channels was impaired, causing skeletal and cardiac muscle failure.
The team also found that triclosan impairs heart and skeletal muscle contractility in living animals. Anesthetized mice had up to a 25-percent reduction in heart function measures within 20 minutes of exposure to the chemical.
"The effects of triclosan on cardiac function were really dramatic," said Nipavan Chiamvimonvat, professor of cardiovascular medicine at UC Davis and a study co-author. "Although triclosan is not regulated as a drug, this compound acts like a potent cardiac depressant in our models."
In addition, the mice had an 18-percent reduction in grip strength for up to 60 minutes after being given a single dose of triclosan. Grip strength is a widely used measure of mouse limb strength, employed to investigate the effects of drugs and neuromuscular disorders.
I have this image of Stuart Little frustrated he can't open a little can because of the anti-bacterial soap on the counter.
But here is how you measure mouse grip strength:
https://www.google.com/search?q=mouse+grip+strength&tbm=isch
jerry at August 15, 2012 11:04 AM
I'm going to take this one under advisement.
I remember the Alar scare, and several others over the years.
And another one is how DDT is so limited/banned in the rest of the world because the U.S. and science didn't understand it's widespread effects as it was originally used. Malaria and many other diseases would be curtailed by its use in third world countries. It's cheap and effective. Used in limited quantities (i.e. not fogging the village) it kills the bad insects, and doesn't hurt bird eggs.
Until more than one study is done and the results are repeatable -- I'm going to take this with a pound of salt.
Jim P. at August 15, 2012 7:05 PM
Kinda sorta off topic
This just in, egg yolks once again bad for you
What is this the 8th or 9th time this has changed over the last 20yrs
lujlp at August 16, 2012 6:00 AM
We only have one container of anything with triclosan in it at home. A shower gel I got for my son to use during wrestling season. I'm not much of a believer in antibacterial everything. Plain soap and plenty of rinsing works fine.
I use Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap for most hand washing (about 2 teaspoons of soap concentrate into one of those foaming soap pumps and fill the rest of the way with water). Awesome stuff doesn't dry out my skin.
LauraGr at August 16, 2012 6:27 AM
Amy Alkon
https://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/08/uc-davis-study.html#comment-3307402">comment from lujlpAbsolute crap study on the eggs.
Here's the comment I left at the LA Times:
This is absolute CRAP "science" reporting. This sort of study -- a cohort study -- is a leap to conclusions after the fact. This is what happens when a paper simply moves over a general news reporter to the science arena, and is shameful and disgusting -- and damaging.
Amy Alkon
at August 16, 2012 8:53 AM
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