We live in a plastic world and we live in an increasingly anxious world. This study suggests a link between plastic chemical exposures in pregnancy and anxious behaviors in children years later. Keep reading to see if you want to limit plastic exposure during childbearing years to help your children face life with less anxiety.
We should always be careful with potential fear tactics about the all the industrial chemicals in our environment. We need discernment on who we are listening to and reading from. However, this study was presented and ENDO 2026, held by the Endocrine Society, a very mainstream medical society. Even the non-crunchy, non-functional medicine world is catching on to this problem.
Of course, this study was not performed in humans, as intentional exposure would be unethical and take a long time to get results. Instead, they exposed rats to di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) which is a very common plasticize additive that makes plastics more flexible. Across the globe it can be found in toys, raincoats, medical devices and more.
Knowing from prior research that this DEHP could degrade into multiple other chemicals affecting animal health, they measured the behavior of rats born to mothers exposed during pregnancy. By 70 days of age, the rats were tested in a standardized maze experiment for levels of anxiety behavior. Those exposed to DEHP exhibited more freezing, showed less exploratory behaviors, and on average delayed actions longer.
To further understand how DEHP might affect anxiety related behaviors, they tested rats with either GABA agonists or testosterone before the maze experiment. The addition of GABA (a neurotransmitter associated with calming effects) and the testosterone reduced or eliminated the higher rates of anxiety behaviors. This result suggests that the DEHP had affected the emotion pathways in those rat’s brains.
In helping our patients and their families go beyond taking GABA or testosterone (not wrong answers, but short sighted), we go on to helping them think about how to avoid the exposure in the first place. Optimizing women for healthy pregnancies requires removing these toxins from their lives and bodies while being sure they have all the nutrients their bodies need for fertility.
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Thanks to Science Daily:
The Endocrine Society. “Common plastic chemical linked to lifelong anxiety in new study.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 17 June 2026. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/06/260616102221.htm>.
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
Dr. Eric Potter graduated from Vanderbilt Medical School and then went on to specialize in internal medicine (adult) and pediatric care, spending significant time and effort in growing his medical understanding while caring for patients from all walks of life.
