Prenatal and Early-Life Exposure to Parabens: Sources, Reduction Strategies, and Developmental Health Effects - A literature review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/QS.2026.50.68042Keywords
Parabens, Pregnancy, Fetal development, Early childhood, Endocrine disruptorsAbstract
Informations and purpose: Parabens are widely used preservatives found in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, foods and household products. Increasing evidence shows that women of reproductive age, including pregnant women, are consistently exposed to these endocrine-disrupting chemicals, which may influence fetal and early-life development. Understanding exposure levels and potential health consequences is important for both public health and clinical practice.
Methods: A systematic literature search was performed to identify studies evaluating paraben exposure during pregnancy and its effects on fetal and early childhood health. The literature search included studies published from 2019-2024 and contained searches of PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct and open access databases.
Results: Parabens are widely detected in maternal and fetal matrices. Exposure to parabens in utero has been shown to result in changes to fetal size, metabolic and hormone-related factors and an increased risk of developing atopic and respiratory diseases in early childhood.Reported mechanisms involve endocrine disruption(specifically acting like estrogens and anti-androgens), oxidative stress, immune modulation and possible epigenetic effects.
Conclusion: Current evidence indicates that parabens may influence child development through several biological pathways, with effects observable from fetal life into early childhood. Although causality remains to be fully established, reducing paraben exposure in pregnancy and early life—particularly from cosmetic and dermal sources—appears advisable. Public health measures promoting informed consumer choices may further mitigate exposure.
References
[1] Trasande L, Sathyanarayana S, Messerlian C, et al. Prenatal phenol and paraben exposures and adverse birth outcomes: a prospective analysis. Environ Int. 2023;176:108079. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2023.108079
[2] Pacyga DC, Barrett ES, Sathyanarayana S, et al. Maternal diet quality moderates associations between prenatal parabens and birth size. Environ Res. 2022;207:112182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.112182
[3]Bräuner EV, Uldall Pallesen J, Andersson AM, et al. Prenatal paraben exposure and sex-specific associations with birth size. Environ Int. 2023;176:108073. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2023.108073
[4] Shin B, Park H, Lee J, et al. Prenatal exposure to parabens and adverse birth outcomes: a prospective cohort study. Sci Total Environ. 2021;768:144678. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144678
[5]Vrijens K, Tsamou M, Madhloum N, et al. Placental paraben load and its association with birth weight and neonatal anthropometry: the ENVIRONAGE birth cohort. Environ Health. 2020;19:75. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-020-00635-5
[6] Iacobelli S, Bonsante F, Kermorvant-Duchemin E, et al. Paraben exposure through medications in neonatal intensive care units: a prospective study. Front Pharmacol. 2023;14:1200521. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2023.1200521
[7] Oskar SS, Strøm M, Høgh M, et al. Identifying critical windows of prenatal exposure to phenols and parabens: a multi-cohort analysis. Environ Int. 2024;180:108205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2023.108205
[8] Reimann B, Frederiksen H, Kyhl HB, et al. Associations between placental parabens, cord blood metabolic markers, and childhood BMI. Environ Res. 2021;197:111010. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.111010
[9]Bommarito PA, Braun JM, Buckley JP. Prenatal exposure to environmental phenols and fetal development: a review of recent evidence. Curr Environ Health Rep. 2024;11:1–12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-023-00399-1
[10] Irizarry RA, Ferguson KK, Rosen EM, et al. Maternal urinary phenol and paraben concentrations and inflammation biomarkers during pregnancy. Environ Health Perspect. 2024;132(4):047004. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP12089
[11] Health Canada. Draft Screening Assessment – Parabens. Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Ottawa, Canada; 2020. Available from: https://www.canada.ca/. Accessed 2024 Oct 15.
[12] HBM4EU Consortium. HBM4EU Parabens Scoping Document. European Human Biomonitoring Initiative. Brussels, Belgium; 2021. Available from: https://www.hbm4eu.eu/. Accessed 2024 Oct 15.
[13] Quiros-Alcalá L, Hansel NN, McCormack MC, et al. Paraben exposures and asthma-related outcomes among children. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2019;143(3):972–975. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2018.07.017
[14] Vrijheid M, Slama R, Robinson O, et al. The ENVIRONAGE birth cohort: design, methods and initial findings. Environ Int. 2020;136:105508. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2019.105508
[15] Philippat C, Botton J, Calafat AM, et al. Maternal paraben exposure and overweight in early childhood. Environ Int. 2020;137:105523. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2020.105523
[16] Jurewicz J, Radwan M, Wielgomas B, et al. Parameters of ovarian reserve in relation to urinary concentrations of parabens. Environ Health. 2020;19:102. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-020-00580-3
[17] RIVM. Aggregate exposure to parabens in personal care products. National Institute for Public Health and the Environment; 2022. Report 2022–0201. Available from: https://www.rivm.nl/. Accessed 2024 Oct 15.
[18] Popa DS, Camelia V, Botnariu GE. The controversies of parabens: an updated review. Acta Pharm. 2021;71(3):355–373. https://doi.org/10.2478/acph-2021-0020
[19] Karzi V, Trikalinos A, Chalkiadaki G, et al. Determination of prenatal exposure to parabens and triclosan in maternal–fetal matrices. Toxicol Rep. 2021;8:544–551. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.toxrep.2021.03.022
[20] Thürmann L, Rolle-Kampczyk UE, Schmitt-Kopplin P, et al. Prenatal paraben exposure and risk of atopic dermatitis in early childhood. Allergy. 2021;76(10):3245–3249. https://doi.org/10.1111/all.14858
[21] Berger K, Eskenazi B, Balmes J, et al. Prenatal exposure to mixtures of phthalates, parabens and phenols and child adiposity. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021;18(4):1796. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041796
[22] Ghozal R, Cordier S, Botton J, et al. Prenatal dietary exposure to mixtures of chemicals and allergic/respiratory diseases in early childhood. Environ Health. 2024;23:7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-023-01046-y
[23] Wojtkiewicz J, Rzymski P, Klimaszyk P. Human exposure to parabens in north-central Europe: biomonitoring study. Sci Rep. 2021;11:23649. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-03152-8
[24] Čok I, Peterlin Mašič L, Heath E. Prenatal exposure to mixtures of phthalates, parabens and phenols: methodological and toxicological considerations. Technical Report; 2021. [Unpublished report].
[25] Boberg J, Taxvig C, Christiansen S, Hass U. Possible endocrine disrupting effects of parabens and their metabolites. Reprod Toxicol. 2010;30(2):301–312. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.reprotox.2010.03.011
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Klaudia Olejnik-Chlewicka, Konrad Puchalski, Paweł Liszka, Jakub Perediatkiewicz, Marta Zasiadła, Klaudia Martyna Patrzykąt, Wojciech Urbański, Paweł Mateusz Łuczak, Jakub Brodowski, Agata Ogórek
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Stats
Number of views and downloads: 13
Number of citations: 0
