Children tracked for up to 11 years across three U.S. and Mexico birth cohorts showed higher faecal calprotectin levels when PFAS exposure was higher during pregnancy and early life.
Mount Sinai researchers measured PFAS in maternal blood, umbilical cord blood and newborn dried blood spots, detecting the chemicals in all early-life samples and indicating widespread exposure.
The association held across all three cohorts for both older PFAS compounds and newer replacement chemicals, with researchers analyzing the substances as real-world chemical mixtures rather than single compounds.
Faecal calprotectin is a clinical marker of intestinal inflammation linked to future inflammatory bowel disease risk, though the observational study did not prove PFAS cause IBD or predict any child will develop it.
Researchers plan continued follow-up into adolescence and adulthood to test whether persistent inflammation after early PFAS exposure translates into higher IBD rates.