Eating a fibre supplement derived from oats before each meal could flush out toxic forever chemicals from the body, a new study suggests.
Per and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, commonly known as forever chemicals, are widely used to make products like non-stick cookware, cosmetics, stain-resistant fabrics, firefighting foams, food packaging, and waterproof clothing.
They persist in the environment for hundreds of years and are increasingly linked to a range of health conditions in humans, including decreased fertility, developmental delays in children, and a higher risk of some cancers.
Scientists have been seeking ways to remove them from the body and the environment or degrade them into harmless compounds.
“Despite the growing concerns about the toxicity of PFAS, specific interventions to reduce PFAS levels in the body are limited,” the study notes. “Current clinical treatments to reduce PFAS body burden are minimal.”
Previous studies have shown that beta-glucan fibre molecules found in oats, barley and rye can bind to PFAS in the digestive system.
The latest study, published in Environmental Health, finds that consuming a dietary supplement with beta-glucan fibre could significantly reduce PFAS levels in the body.
Researchers recruited 72 Canadian men aged 18 to 65 with detectable levels of PFAS in their blood and fed 42 of them a diet supplement of one gram of oat beta-glucan, a type of soluble gel-forming fibre, before each mealtime, when the body produced the most bile.
The remaining 30 participants received a placebo made of rice.
“Serum samples were collected from 72 participants in 2019-2020 at baseline and after four weeks of the intervention and were analysed for 17 PFASs,” the study states.
After four weeks, researchers found a nearly 10 per cent drop in two of the most dangerous PFAS types in people who took the oat fibre supplement. The two forever chemicals, known as PFOA and PFOS, have been detected in drinking water, food packaging and cosmetics, and they can build up in the body over time.
Although the results are modest, scientists say the findings offer a first step to formulating a dietary intervention for removing PFAS from the body.
“Results from this pilot analysis suggest a potentially practical and feasible intervention that may reduce human body burdens for some PFASs,” they say.
“However, studies utilising a larger sample with a broader range of serum concentrations, longer intervention period and clinically relevant fibre intakes are needed to determine the efficacy of using gel-forming dietary fibres to increase PFAS excretion.”
