How Plastics in Food May Make HS Worse

November 28, 2025

This plain-language research summary was generated by AI, courtesy of HS Simplified.

AI Generated Content Verified By: Luis Garza, M.D. Ph.D. | Johns Hopkins

How Plastics in Food May Make HS Worse

A recent study, published in 2025, reveals how chemicals found in plastics, known as endocrine disruptors (p-EDs), may contribute to the skin disease hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) by reducing a protein called Nicastrin, crucial for skin health. Endocrine disruptors are substances that can interfere with hormone systems, potentially causing inflammation akin to the genetic form of HS. This highlights the potential importance of environmental factors in managing and understanding the disease.

How Plastics in Food May Make a Skin Disease Worse

Hidradenitis Suppurativa (HS) is a tough skin disease that causes painful bumps, tunnels, and scars, especially where skin rubs together (like underarms and groin). Scientists don’t fully know why it happens, and there aren’t many treatments that work well. In this new study, Williams and her team wanted to find out if chemicals from plastics in food could play a role in making HS worse.

What Are Plastic-Associated Endocrine Disruptors?

Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that can mess with our hormones. Some of these come from plastics (like bisphenols and phthalates), and they often get into our bodies through ultra-processed foods (UPFs) that are wrapped or stored in plastic. These chemicals are everywhere, and most people have some in their bodies.

Key Protein: Nicastrin (NCSTN)

HS is sometimes caused by a problem in a gene that makes a protein called Nicastrin (NCSTN), which is part of a larger group of proteins called gamma secretase. When NCSTN doesn't work right, cells can become extra sensitive to signals that cause inflammation (swelling and redness).

What Did the Scientists Find?

The scientists studied skin from people with HS and compared it to healthy skin. They found that HS skin cells called fibroblasts (cells that help build skin and send signals to other cells) had much less NCSTN protein than normal. This was important because fibroblasts with less NCSTN made more inflammatory signals, especially a molecule called IL-8, which can attract immune cells and cause swelling.

Next, the team looked for plastic chemicals in the skin of people with HS. They found much higher levels of these chemicals in HS skin than in healthy skin. Even when they took these skin cells out of the body and grew them in a dish, the chemicals were still there! This means the chemicals stay in the skin for a long time.

Testing the Chemicals in the Lab

To see if these plastic chemicals could really cause problems, the scientists put a mix of eight common plastic chemicals on healthy skin fibroblasts in the lab. Even at very low doses, these chemicals made the cells lose NCSTN protein and produce more inflammatory signals, just like what happens in HS. This didn’t happen in other skin cells called keratinocytes, showing the effect was specific to fibroblasts.

Why Does This Matter?

The study suggests that plastic chemicals in food packaging might help cause or worsen HS in some people by lowering NCSTN in skin fibroblasts and making the skin more inflamed. Since these chemicals are found in many processed foods, this could explain why HS is becoming more common, and why it’s linked to eating lots of processed foods.

Limitations and What We Still Don’t Know

There are some limits to this study. Not everyone exposed to plastic chemicals gets HS, so genes and other factors likely matter too. The study mostly used skin samples and lab tests, so we don’t know for sure if avoiding these chemicals will make HS better. Also, there may be other reasons for the loss of NCSTN or for HS to get worse, and the study didn't look at every possible cause.

Takeaway

This research shows that chemicals from plastics in processed foods might make HS worse by lowering a key protein and making skin more inflamed. It might help people with HS to eat fewer ultra-processed foods and avoid plastic packaging when possible, but more research is needed to know for sure. Scientists also think this could be important for other diseases, like Alzheimer's, that involve the same proteins.

Author(s)

Kaitlin L. Williams, Beita Badiei, James Reilly, William Andrews, Hana B. Minsky, Nina Rossa Haddad, Eddie G. Martinez Pena, Mengqi Sun, Sam Lee, Ang Li, Leigh Curvin-Aquilla, Arieana Y. Johnson, Aiden Willis, Charles S. Kirby, Amy van Ee, Yingchao Xue, Carrie A. Cox, Shanmuga Priya Rajagopalan, Sewon Kang, Kurunthachalam Kannan, Julie Caffrey, Nathan K. Archer, Maureen Kane, Luis A. Garza

Read Original Paper

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-65789-7