With industrialization, more and more chemicals are produced every year. These chemicals make their way into our food, water, & environment. As a result, endocrine disruptors are found in:
And, no. Our government does not regulate or address endocrine disruptors under and integrated framework. There’s an Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP) that’s currently making its way through an estimated87,000chemicals. While that’s a lot, it’s sad to know that the EDSP still doesn’t have authority for regulation.
With that said…
Here are the Top 12 Endocrine Disruptors
BPA
Some may say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but do you really want a chemical used in plastics imitating the sex hormone estrogen in your body? Nah bro, I’m good. This synthetic hormone can trick the body into thinking it’s the real thing – and the results aren’t pretty. As an estrogen receptor agonist, BPA has been linked to everything from breast and other cancers to reproductive organ dysfunction, obesity, early puberty, diabetes, sperm anomalies, & heart disease, and according to government tests, 93% of Americans have BPA in their bodies!
BPA can be found in plastics, food packaging, & the lining of many food/beverage containers. It may also leach from plastic into food/beverage at room temperature and/or higher temperatures. Release into the environment can occur during manufacturing, transporting, and processing. Once we throw away plastic, it goes to the landfill and enters the soil and groundwater. The older plastic is, the more endocrine disruptors it’s releasing.
Fun fact: BPA has been banned in Canada by the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. But not by our cool government.
How to avoid it?Go fresh instead of canned – many food cans are lined with BPA. Say no to receipts, since thermal paper is often coated with BPA. And avoid plastics marked with a “PC,” for polycarbonate, or recycling label #7. Not all of these plastics contain BPA, but many do – and it’s better safe than sorry when it comes to keeping synthetic hormones out of your body. For more tips, click here
DIOXIN
Dioxins are multitaskers…. but not in a good way… They form during many industrial processes when chlorine or bromine are burned in the presence of carbon & oxygen. Dioxins can disrupt the delicate ways that both male and female sex hormone signaling occurs in the body. Recent research has shown that exposure to low levels of dioxin in the womb and early in life can both permanently affect sperm quality and lower the sperm count in men during their prime reproductive years. Dioxins are also very long-lived – they build up both in the body and in the food chain, are powerful carcinogens and can also affect the immune and reproductive systems.
These bad boys can be found in meat & as a by-product of combustion. They’re also linked to compromising neurodevelopment, altering thyroid function, and demasculinizing the male hypothalamus.
How to avoid it?That’s pretty difficult, since the ongoing industrial release of dioxin has meant that the American food supply is widely contaminated. Products including meat, fish, milk, eggs and butter are most likely to be contaminated, but you can cut down on your exposure by eating fewer animal products and/or sticking to organic, pasture-raised, & free-range animal products.
ATRAZINE
What happens when you introduce highly toxic chemicals into nature and turn your back? For one thing, male frogs turn into chicks. Yup, researchers have found that exposure to even low levels of the herbicide atrazine can turn male frogs into females that produce completely viable eggs. Atrazine is widely used on the majority of corn crops in the United States, and consequently it’s a pervasive drinking water contaminant. Atrazine has been linked to breast tumors, delayed puberty, prostate inflammation & prostate cancer in people.
How to avoid it?Buy organic produce and get a drinking water filter certified to remove atrazine. For help finding a suitable filter, check out the EWG’s water filter guide.
PHTHALATES
Did you know that a specific signal programs cells in our bodies to die? It’s totally normal and healthy for 50 billion cells in your body to die every day! But studies have shown that chemicals called phthalates can trigger what’s known as “death-inducing signaling” in testicular cells, making them die earlier than they should. Yep, that’s cell death – in your man parts. If that’s not enough, studies have linked phthalates to hormone changes, lower sperm count, less mobile sperm, birth defects in the male reproductive system, obesity, diabetes & thyroid irregularities.
How to avoid it? A good place to start is to avoid plastic food containers, children’s toys (some phthalates are already banned in kid’s products), and plastic wrap made from PVC, which has the recycling label #3. Some personal care products and cleaning agents also contain phthalates, so read the labels and avoid products that simply list added “fragrance” or “perfum,” since these catch-all terms sometimes means hidden phthalates. Find phthalate-free and simple-ingredient personal products here!
PERCHLORATE
Who wants some food tainted with rocket fuel?! I’m not raising my hand on this one.
Perchlorate, a component in rocket fuel, contaminates much of our produce & milk, according to EWG and government test data. When perchlorate gets into your body it competes with the nutrient iodine, which the thyroid gland needs to make thyroid hormones. Basically, this means that if you ingest too much of it you can end up altering your thyroid hormone balance. This is important because it’s these hormones that regulate metabolism in adults and are critical for proper brain and organ development in infants and young children.
How to avoid it?You can reduce perchlorate in your drinking water by installing a reverse osmosis filter. As for food, it’s pretty much impossible to avoid perchlorate, but you can reduce its potential effects on you by making sure you are getting enough iodine in your diet.
FLAME RETARDANTS
What do breast milk & polar bears have in common? Welp….. In 1999, some Swedish scientists studying women’s breast milk discovered something totally unexpected: The milk contained an endocrine-disrupting chemical found in fire retardants, and the levels had been doubling every five years since 1972. These incredibly persistent chemicals, known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers or PBDEs, have since been found to contaminate the bodies of people and wildlife around the globe – even polar bears. These chemicals can imitate thyroid hormones in our bodies and disrupt their activity. That can lead to lower IQ, alter androgen and estrogen signaling, & accumulate in organ tissues over time.
The top sources include plastics, paint, furniture, electronics, and food. When it comes to food…meat, fish, dairy, and eggs are the biggest culprits. Well, except for infants. They get it from breast milk – which, in the US, levels are 10-12 times higher than women’s breast milk in Europe.
How to avoid it? It’s virtually impossible, but passing better toxic chemical laws that require chemicals to be tested before they go on the market would help reduce our exposure. A few things that you can do in the meantime include: use a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter, which can cut down on toxic-laden house dust; avoid reupholstering foam furniture; & be careful when replacing old carpet (the padding underneath may contain PBDEs).
LEAD
It’s well known that lead is toxic, especially to children. Lead harms almost every organ system in the body and has been linked to a staggering array of health effects, including permanent brain damage, lowered IQ, hearing loss, miscarriage, premature birth, increased blood pressure, kidney damage and nervous system problems. But few people realize that one other way that lead may affect your body is by disrupting your hormones. In animals, lead has been found to lower sex hormone levels. Research has also shown that lead can disrupt the hormone signaling that regulates the body’s major stress system (called the HPA axis). You probably have more stress in your life than you want, so the last thing you need is something making it harder for your body to deal with it – especially when this stress system is implicated in high blood pressure, diabetes, anxiety and depression.
How to avoid it?Keep your home clean and well maintained. Crumbling old paint is a major source of lead exposure, so get rid of it carefully. A good water filter can also reduce your exposure to lead in drinking water. And if you need another reason to eat better, studies have also shown that children with healthy diets absorb less lead.
ARSENIC
So here’s another toxin lurking in your food and drinking water. If you eat enough of it, arsenic will kill you outright. In smaller amounts, arsenic can cause skin, bladder and lung cancer. Less well known: Arsenic messes with your hormones! Specifically, it can interfere with normal hormone functioning in the glucocorticoid system that regulates how our bodies process sugars and carbohydrates. What does that mean for you? Well, disrupting the glucocorticoid system has been linked to weight gain/loss, protein wasting, immunosuppression, insulin resistance (which can lead to diabetes), osteoporosis, growth retardation, and high blood pressure.
How to avoid it?Reduce your exposure by using a water filter that lowers arsenic levels.
MERCURY
Caution: That sushi you are eating could be hazardous to your health.
Mercury, a naturally occurring but toxic metal, gets into the air and the oceans primarily through burning coal. Eventually, it can end up on your plate in the form of mercury-contaminated seafood. Pregnant women are the most at risk from the toxic effects of mercury, since the metal is known to concentrate in the fetal brain and can interfere with brain development. Mercury is also known to bind directly to one particular hormone that regulates women’s menstrual cycle and ovulation, interfering with normal signaling pathways. In other words, hormones don’t work so well when they’ve got mercury stuck to them! The metal may also play a role in diabetes, since mercury has been shown to damage cells in the pancreas that produce insulin, which is critical for the body’s ability to metabolize sugar.
How to avoid it? For people who still want to eat (sustainable) seafood with lots of healthy fats but without a side of toxic mercury, wild salmon and farmed trout are good choices.
PERFLUORINATED CHEMICALS (PFCS)
The perfluorinated chemicals used to make non-stick cookware can stick toyou. Perfluorochemicals are so widespread and extraordinarily persistent that 99% of Americans have these chemicals in their bodies. One particularly notorious compound called PFOA has been shown to be completely resistant to biodegradation. In other words, PFOA doesn’t break down in the environment – EVER. That means that even though the chemical was banned after decades of use, it will be showing up in people’s bodies for countless generations to come. This is worrisome, since PFOA exposure has been linked to decreased sperm quality, low birth weight, kidney disease, thyroid disease and high cholesterol, among other health issues.
How to avoid it?Skip to-go food packaging, non-stick pans, as well as stain and water-resistant coatings on clothing, furniture and carpets.
ORGANOPHOSPHATE PESTICIDES
Neurotoxic organophosphate compounds that the Nazis produced in huge quantities for chemical warfare during World War II were luckily never used. But, because go America, after the war ended American scientists used the same chemistry to develop a long line of pesticides that target the nervous systems of insects. Despite many studies linking organophosphate exposure to effects on brain development, behavior and fertility, they are still among the more common pesticides in use today. A few of the many ways that organophosphates can affect the human body include interfering with the way testosterone communicates with cells, lowering testosterone and altering thyroid hormone levels.
How to avoid it?Similar to some of the previous chemicals, buying all organic produce and installing a home water filter can greatly reduce your exposure!
GLYCOL ETHERS
Shrunken testicles.
This is one thing that can happen to rats exposed to chemicals called glycol ethers, which are common solvents in paints, cleaning products, brake fluid, and cosmetics. The European Union says that some of these chemicals “may damage fertility or the unborn child.” Studies of painters have linked exposure to certain glycol ethers to blood abnormalities and lower sperm counts. And children who were exposed to glycol ethers from paint in their bedrooms had substantially more asthma and allergies.
THOSE ARE MY TOP 12, HOWEVER, IT’S NOT A COMPLETE LIST.
Some others to watch out for include:
PHYTOESTROGENS
These are found in soy and other food products and have been shown to stimulate estrogen receptors.
TRICLOSAN
This chemical has been linked to allergies, asthma, thyroid disruption, & central nervous system dysfunction and can be found in personal care products & anti-microbial products.
PARABENS
This guy mimics estrogen and can be found in a wide range of products including deodorant, food, and polyester fabrics.
What can you do?
This all sounds a bit intimidating and depressing. Sorry….But with some common-sense steps, you can reduce your endocrine disruption load.
First, think about ways to reduce your exposure. One simple way to do this is to keep as many harmful chemicals as possible out of your house, and make easy substitutions for common household pollutants. Check out All About Indoor Air Pollutionand All About Safe Cosmeticsfor ideas.
Be a critical consumer. Ask manufacturers what chemicals are in their products. Look for safer and eco- or body-friendlier alternatives as much as possible.
Use less fossil fuel. Carpool, take transit, walk, or cycle.
Help your body get rid of toxins. Eat the best quality, freshest food you can afford — organic if you can get it. Stay active and get your sweat on. Use an infrared sauna. Make sure your liver is functioning well, and eat plenty of fiber. If you think you’re at risk, see a functional medicine doc for evidence-based detoxification protocols (or come see me!).
Use containers like glass, steel, & ceramic when possible. At this point, these appear to be safer and better for the environment. Don’t heat things in plastic or Styrofoam containers; switch to wooden or metal utensils instead of plastic. In our household we use leftover jars for everything – trust me when I say my co-workers laugh at me when I walk into work with my iced coffee in a glass pickle jar.
This is a learning process & I’m here to help! Any step forward is a step in the right direction to reducing your toxic burden.
Copyright 2022 The Discovery Doc, LLC®. All Rights Reserved.
The Discovery Doc – Dr. CeCe Brooks – Atlanta Holistic NP
Dr. CeCe
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