Pregnant? Hold Off On Using Make Up – It Could Harm Your Baby

According to a new study, applying your favourite shade of lippy and using your other go-to cosmetics could affect your unborn child’s intelligence.

Great. Another thing to add to your list of what to avoid for the next nine months.

It sounds like overkill, but the warnings have some sound science behind them - and it’s all down to some chemicals used in making this type of product.

Apparently, two ‘phthalate’ chemicals found in make-up could lower your baby’s IQ score.

Phthalate (pronounced thah-late) chemicals are man-made and used in lots of products for lots of different reasons, such as helping make-up hold it’s colour and scent.

It’s thought they affect your hormones during pregnancy, and the World Health Organisation warns that they have ‘serious implications’ for health.

Researchers in New York looked at the exposure amounts of phthalate of 328 women and their children, all from low-income areas. All of the women had been exposed to normal levels of the chemicals.

The experts, who published their findings in the journal Public Library of Science ONE, measured the amount of the chemicals found in the women’s urine samples and quizzed the children to determine their IQ.

The children whose mums were most exposed to two phthalates – DnBP and DiBP – had lower IQ scores than those with mothers who had exposure to the least amount.

“Pregnant women across the US are exposed to phthalates almost daily, many at levels similar to those that we found were associated with substantial reductions in the IQ of children,” says the study’s lead author, Dr Pam Factor-Litvak from Columbia University.

“While there has been some regulation to ban phthalates from toys of young children, there is no legislation governing exposure during pregnancy, which is likely the most sensitive period for brain development.”

Dr Factor-Litvak added that phthalates are not yet required to be on product labelling and warned pregnant women to avoid microwaving food in plastic containers and to avoid scented products.

But asking mums-to-be to avoid everything with phthalates in is near impossible.

The chemicals are in everything from shower curtains to car dashboards and the particles enter our systems simply by breathing them in – unintentionally.

So we reckon that while it makes sense to err on the side of caution where you can, it’s not something you need to spend your time panicking about. Most products have very low levels and if you're exercising reasonable caution there's no reason to add the extra worry to your pregnancy.

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Would this research put you off wearing make up during pregnancy? Let us know in the comments.