In A World Of Plastics, What Should We Do?
I first got the idea to write Hormone Deception when I read an article that the earth was starting to be shrouded in chemicals that could disrupt hormones. And these potentially hormone damaging chemicals were now commonly found in our air, food and water.
At that time, this was in the early 1990’s, there very little was known about these chemicals that could disrupt these powerful signaling molecules in our bodies Internet system. Freezing or altering our physiologic emails. In some of us. Not all of us.
But adverse documented results are growing.
Microplastics are being found in sea salt. I remember upon first hearing this, I wrote one of my mentors who at the time was the academic Dean of the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health. I asked Dr. Bill Toscano, “Can this be true? Are plastics now in sea salt?”
Dr. Toscano wrote back that sadly, that is the case.
But there’s more.
Microplastics are in egg, sperm, placenta and amniotic fluid.
One of my other mentors, Dr. Jonathan Wright, considered the “father of bioidentical hormones” had taught me early on, to always look at hormone health in all patients. This is because hormones are all body’s most powerful genetic signaling tools.
So if molecules now ubiquitous in air, food and water, could get in on the early development of genes and early human life, all hugely effected by hormonal activity in the pregnant mom and developing fetus, and disrupt our most powerful signals, what might be happening from this?
We have been discussing, for weeks, the importance of signals from hormones like estrogen and testosterone.
What if these signals are altered? Futzed with? Especially early on while our genetic signals for our entire lives are being formed inside the womb? Under the influence of hormones!
And what might we do about it to keep ourselves, our families and patients safe?
One of the biggest threats is fertility. And early preterm birth. Which even the CDC has warned earlier this month, February, 2024, are on the rise.
Preterm birth can cause life long issues in the babies effected. Academically. Behaviorally. IQ wise. On and on.
Our precious planet is now covered with documented mini-whirl winds that circle the earth for thirty years carrying chemicals like plastics, heavy metals, volatile organic pollutants, from one country to the next.
They float down.
Gaining access to rain.
Getting into everything.
Soil.
Bottom of your shoes.
Into homes.
Plus, our food is shrunk wrapped in plastic. I watched with horror as the guy making the “organic pizza” at Whole Foods took out mushrooms and veggies all shrunk wrapped in plastic. This has been shown to get nasty estrogenic plastic molecules significantly into food (I wrote about this 20 years ago in Hormone Deception).
Plastic is everywhere.
These chemicals can disrupt hormones. Thus these chemicals, which are many kinds, are called endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs).
EDCs are especially prevalent in personal care products, plastics and food.
We carry them into our homes on the bottoms of our shoes.
Chemicals carried in on our shoes end up within minutes on our pillows in our bedroom.
Plastics are ubiquitous. Everyday plastic items from plastics in sea salt to plastic food containers, and plastic cosmetic packages, are being linked to preterm births.
Preterm births are those that occur before the 37th week of pregnancy.
Researchers looked for chemicals called phthalates in about 5000 “healthy” US mothers by analyzing their urine at various points during their pregnancies.
Phthalates have long been known to affect hormone functions that can sometimes affect other bodily processes.
The researchers concluded that exposure to several specific phthalates may significantly increase the risk of preterm birth and may be linked to as many as 56,595 preterm births annually.
These US investigators called for manufacturers to seek alternative, safer chemicals and to avoid especially the phthalate known as DHEP, which helps make plastic flexible.
DHEP is used in an array of products, including furniture upholstery, garden hoses, baby pants, toys, and medical tubing.
Phthalates are ubiquitous in most perfumes that oddly enough we often put on our skink after being in the shower. Now our pores are wide open and thirsty to take in whatever we dab, spray and rub in.
Do OGYN docs get trained to “warn” pregnant moms or soon or wanna to be, to “reduce” exposure to EDCs?
I have been trying to boost this awareness by calling for, what I have labeled, “Green Pregnancies”. A periods where before you get pregnant you try to reduce exposure and even detox out some of these potentially harmful chemicals already inside the body.
"Our findings uncover the tremendous medical and financial burden of preterm births we believe are connected to phthalates, adding to the vast body of evidence that these chemicals present a serious danger to human health. There is a clear opportunity here to lessen these risks by either using safer plastic materials or by reducing the use of plastic altogether whenever possible," said study lead author Leonardo Trasande, MD, in a statement. (Trasande is a pediatrician at NYU Langone Health, professor at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, and a renowned expert in the field of children's environmental health.)
Among annual US live births, about 8% of babies have low birth weight, and about 10% are preterm, the authors noted.
Low birth weight and low gestational age (the time between conception and birth) are known predictors of health problems both in early life and throughout a person's lifespan.
Babies with low birth weight or short gestational age are at increased risk of poor academic performance later in life, as well as heart disease and diabetes, according to NYU Langone Health.
Phthalates are known to "induce inflammation and oxidative stress, and are endocrine disruptors.
EDCs can adversely affect the placenta causing pregnancy complications.
These US researchers found evidence of phthalates in the pregnant women's urine similar in terms of concentration levels compared to those previously found in other studies of women of childbearing age.
I wrote in Hormone Deception about a Mt. Sinai study that found hundreds of EDC type chemicals in healthy pregnant American amniotic fluid.
Meaning most “healthy” American young women have lots of EDCs in their body’s. Thus, also in their placenta, womb and developing fetus.
The researchers said their findings are of "great concern," particularly because some of the phthalates their study linked to preterm birth are currently being used by manufacturers of food packaging as alternatives to the already concerning DHEP phthalate.
This means that many plastic alternatives may be just as bad as the original EDCs.
The French are concerned too.
Santé Publique France (SPF), the French national public health agency, has released the findings of the PEPS'PE study, which was launched in 2021.
The study aims to prioritize, following extensive consultation, the health effects to be monitored for their potential link to endocrine disruptors (EDs).
First “Model” EDC
The number one model of endocrine disruption is diethylstilbesterol, is a chemical given to millions of pregnant women from 1938 to 1971. Then it was banned as one of the most cancer causing chemicals in the world.
The nickname for diethylstilbesterol is DES. It is 50 times more powerful than our own natural estrogen.
DES is the premier EDC.
DES was put in 365 different prenatal vitamins. It was given as “shots” to prevent a threatened miscarriage. I got exposure both ways when my mother was pregnant with me.
Thus, when I was younger I had multiple cancers and could not have children.
I care a LOT about all of this. About reducing exposure. About avoiding what happened to me.
Out of 59 health effects that the French suspected to be associated with exposure to EDs, 21 have been considered a priority for surveillance.
The PEPS'PE project aims to prioritize health effects related to EDs.
The 59 health effects suspected to be associated with exposure to EDs were to be evaluated based on two criteria: The weight of evidence and the epidemiological and societal impact of the health effect.
A diverse panel of international experts and French stakeholders in the field of EDs classified 21 health effects as a priority for surveillance.
EDC Effects Found By the French
Sexual/Reproductive
Among these effects, six reproductive health effects are already monitored in the surveillance program: Cryptorchidism, hypospadias, early puberty, testicular cancer, alteration of sperm quality, and endometriosis.
In addition, infertility and decreased fertility (which are not currently monitored for their link to EDs) have been included.
Metabolic
Several groups (cohorts) of DES offspring have been monitored for decades. They have been found to have increased issues, btw, with all the issues that the French have found.
Metabolic effects (including overweight and obesity, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome), child neurodevelopmental disorders (including behavioral disorders, intellectual deficits, and attention-deficit disorders), cancers (including breast cancer, prostate cancer, lymphomas, and leukemias in children), and asthma have also been highlighted.
I was one of the researchers that helped engage lawyers, like Sybil Shainwald, to identigy the link between DES in-utero (in the womb) exposure, to increased risk of breast cancer.
Furthermore, 22 effects were considered low priorities or deemed nonpriorities when, for example, they presented weak or moderate evidence with varying levels of interest in implementing surveillance.
Finally, 16 health effects could not be prioritized because of a lack of scientific experts on these topics and a failure to achieve consensus (eg, bone disorders, adrenal disorders, and skin and eye disorders).
A collaborative US effort, funded by the NIH, did a prospective analysis from extant data in the US National Institutes of Health Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program from 1998 to 2022 to study associations of 20 phthalate metabolites with gestational age at birth, birthweight, birth length, and birthweight for gestational age z-scores and adverse birth outcomes and associated costs.
They estimated that phthalates caused many preterm birth cases in 2018 with associated costs of US$3·84 billion.
They found that exposure to DEHP, DiDP, DiNP, and DnOP were associated with decreased gestational age and increased risk of preterm birth, suggesting substantial opportunities for prevention.
So, the planet is “dirty” with EDCs.
What’s a body owner to do?
Some critical take-aways (which the last third of my book, Hormone Deception, takes you on an educated but minimized stressful tour of your home - where most exposures are believe it or not so you can do something about theses - your office and also your supermarket cart. Most important are tips for your bathrooms and kitchens.
These to-do’s won’t totally avoid exposure but they help incredibly.
Get a quality shower filter and change it every 6 months. Berkey is great and they have not raised their prices for a long time. It’s what I use. I have a link for it under my FAV products.
Do not microwave food in plastics or even “trays” that proclaim microwave safe.
Avoid most perfumes, use phthalate free essential oils, etc.
Do not reuse plastic containers for beverages and foods, use glass.
Use glass containers whenever possible, try to buy mayo, ketchup etc. in glass even though these are challenging to find.
Avoid non-stick cook ware (this especially is linked to keeping us chubby)
EDCs especially love fat so if you are purchasing fat-full foods like milk, meat, etc. these are the most critical to try to fork out the money for organic. Organic matters.
Support your local farmers and farmer’s markets but ask, ask, ask a lot of questions.
You and your pets carry in EDCs on the bottom of your shoes and paws. Address this. Wipe feet several times on outside mat, inside mat, take off shoes, wipe paws.
My Biotic’s Research Products, Receptor Detox and Hormone Balance & Protect, are designed are daily supplements designed to “clean off receptors” - where EDCs squat and cause damage, and keep hormone signals protected. Typical dose in typical patients are Receptor Detox one twice a day with food, Hormone Balance and Protect two once a day with food. But more may be needed in certain conditions. One of each can be used as early as 5 years old. The only contraindication of Hormone Balance & Protect is a “severe” history of reaction to sulfur. Not moderate, but severe.
PS Based on writing Hormone Deception, I was invited to be a distinquished hormone scholar at an environmental estrogen group working with the very scientists that unveiled this EDC story bringing it to the attention of the world (The Center for Bioenvironmental Research Tulane/Xavier Universities)
Use “Real Salt” by Redmond.
We are learning that less exposure to EDCs is a good thing.
But no where in medicine is this yet being translated into our clinical trenches.
This is a great potential for any practitioner to tackle and highlight for their patients. A niche EDC detox practice.
Be a practitioner that informs and teaches patients why and how to lower their EDC exposure, especially prior to conception, or birth and/or during pregnancy and lactation.
Knowledge is power.
Up with “Green Pregnancies”.
Dr. B.
References:
Hormone Deception Berkson DL McGraw-Hill 2000, Awakened Medicine Press 2016
Prenatal phthalate exposure and adverse birth outcomes in the USA: a prospective analysis of births and estimates of attributable burden and costs. Lancet Planet Health. 2024 Feb;8(2):e74-e85
https://www.medscape.com/recap/998058?src=flex_520_medscape.com
https://www.santepubliquefrance.fr/les-actualites/2023/vers-un-elargissement-de-la-surveillance-des-effets-sanitaires-des-perturbateurs-endocriniens