Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and estrogen-like activity in lab cells
What it found
In lab tests on human breast cancer cells, the food additive BHA showed weak estrogen-like activity.
It needed much higher amounts than natural estrogen to have this effect.
What they found
Animal and lab studies
Weak cell growth effect
Out of 66 food additives tested in lab dishes, 17 made human breast cancer cells multiply. BHA was one of them, but its effect was very weak compared to natural estrogen. The cells needed much more BHA to react than they did for natural estrogen.
Binding to estrogen receptors
In test tube experiments, BHA could attach to human estrogen receptors. This means it can compete with natural estrogen for the same spots on cells. However, it bound to these receptors much less strongly than natural estrogen did.
Changes in cell genes
When lab cells were treated with BHA, certain genes changed their activity over time. Genes for estrogen receptors went down while genes for progesterone receptors went up. Natural estrogen causes these exact same changes, though BHA required about 20000 times more to do so.
Blocked by anti-estrogen
The researchers added a drug that blocks estrogen to the lab dishes. This drug completely stopped the cell growth caused by BHA. This confirms that BHA was acting through estrogen pathways in these cells.
Other findings
Daily intake amounts
The authors note that the average daily intake of BHA in Japan is 0.105 mg/day. For a person weighing 50 kg, this is about 0.4% of the accepted daily limit of 0.5 mg/kg/day. Children might take in more relative to their body weight if they eat certain foods heavily.
What the authors conclude
- They suggest people should be careful not to consume excessive amounts of food additives.
- They point out that while each additive has a weak effect on its own, eating large amounts or many different ones together might still matter.
How it was done
Scientists wanted to check whether common food additives can act like estrogen in the body. They noted that safety limits for these additives are based on cancer risk, not hormone effects.
They tested over 90 chemicals, including 66 food additives, on human breast cancer cells grown in a lab dish. They watched the cells for six days to see if the chemicals made them multiply the way estrogen does. They also looked at how BHA interacted with estrogen receptors and genes in these cells.
What it can’t tell you
- These tests used isolated human cancer cells in a dish, not whole living bodies. Lab dish results cannot show what happens when a person eats food containing BHA.
- The amounts of BHA needed to cause effects in these cells were far higher than what people typically eat. Scientists do not yet know if normal dietary exposure affects hormones in people.
Who paid
- Authors work at
- The Tokyo Metropolitan Research Laboratory of Public Health, Japan
The paper
- Title
- [Studies on estrogenic activities of food additives with human breast cancer MCF-7 cells and mechanism of estrogenicity by BHA and OPP]
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Animals and lab studies
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Okubo T, Kano I (2003). [Studies on estrogenic activities of food additives with human breast cancer MCF-7 cells and mechanism of estrogenicity by BHA and OPP]. Yakugaku zasshi. doi:10.1248/yakushi.123.443Free full textPubMed 12822488DOI
Summary written 1 Oct 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error