Forever chemicals

Forever chemicals ride into the body on meat and fish

By WhyStopHarmingAnimals.com

PFAS are called forever chemicals because they build up in the body and stay there. Some of that load comes in on food[1][2], and the foods that carry the most are animal foods[1][2]. Vegans carry less of two of these chemicals than omnivores[1], and in U.S. national data, the more meat and fish people ate, the higher their blood levels[2].

Vegans against omnivores

A 2021 study in the International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health compared 36 vegans with 36 omnivores[1]. The vegans had lower levels of PFOS and PFNA, two of the forever chemicals[1]. There was no difference for two others, PFOA and PFHxS[1]. Among the omnivores, meat intake was the food most closely tied to PFOS and PFNA levels[1]. With 72 people in total[1], the sample was small.

Thousands of Americans

An earlier analysis of NHANES, the U.S. national health and nutrition survey, looked at thousands of Americans[2]. More meat and fish went with higher PFNA and PFOS, the same two chemicals that were lower in the vegans[1][2]. Diet explained 10–21% of the variation in blood levels[2].

That figure cuts both ways[2]. Food is a real route for these chemicals[2], and animal foods are the part of the diet that tracks with them[1][2]. It also means most of the variation comes from other sources that no diet removes.

What it adds up to

Two studies of different sizes and designs point to the same chemicals[1][2] and the same foods. Fish in particular is often sold as a clean protein, yet in the NHANES data it sat alongside meat as one of the foods tied to higher levels[2]. The share of forever chemicals that arrives through food is the share we can do something about, and eating plants instead of animals lowers it[1].