We live in a world with plenty of toxic chemicals. Nearly every part of our modern world is touched by chemicals. Microplastics have been found in remote areas of the oceans. Air pollution in some cities is dense enough to limit vision, and we spray our crops with man-made pesticides.
Each day, we discover more about these endocrine-disrupting chemicals. They negatively impact your endocrine system, which regulates your internal systems like sleep, metabolic function, appetite, libido, and mood.
Why is the endocrine system so important?
The endocrine system regulates complex activities in our bodies though hormones in the bloodstream. Hormones deliver information to cells and maintain homeostasis. Hormones regulate every process from metabolism to reproduction.
The major endocrine glands include:
- Hypothalamus
- Pituitary gland
- Pineal gland
- Thyroid
- Adrenal glands
- Thymus
- Pancreas
- Gonads (testicles and ovaries)
Disrupting the endocrine system can disrupt nearly every key process throughout your body.
What are endocrine disruptors?
Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are chemicals that interfere with your hormone processes. EDCs can be natural or manmade, and they are in many everyday items like food, cosmetics, and plastic water bottles.
EDCs can alter your endocrine system in a number of ways including:
- Mimic hormones,
- Block hormones,
- Interfere with hormone production, and/or
- Modify the body’s sensitivity to hormones.
EDCs can trick the body. They may result in increasing or decreasing production of certain hormones, imitating hormones, binding with hormones, interfering with hormone signalling, or even changing one hormone into another.
These are the top 12 EDCs and ways to avoid them to keep your endocrine system working well.
BPA
BPA is added to many commercial products. First discovered in the 1950s, scientists didn’t identify its versatility until the 1980s. It is now used in plastics to make them stronger, although not all plastics include BPA.
BPA may be found in plastic baby bottles and epoxy resins used to line the inside of canned foods. BPA may trick the body into acting as if it’s estrogen. It has been linked to growth of breast cancer cells, heart disease, obesity, and early onset puberty.
Avoiding BPA: Eat fresh goods rather than canned foods when possible. Food packers are moving away from using containers lined with BPA, so double check the can. Avoid plastics with the recycling label #7, as many contain BPA.
Dioxin
Dioxins pollute the environment. Most are results of industrial activities. Both the EPA and WHO consider dioxins to have highly toxic potential, and they are working at lessening the amount of dioxins released into the environment.
Our bodies store dioxins in the fat tissues. They have a half-life of 7 to 11 years, which means they last in your body for a considerable amount of time. Dioxins disrupt sex hormones and are linked to lower sperm counts in mens and low psychomotor scores in babies in utero.
Avoiding dioxins: Dioxins are typically found widely in factory-produced meat, milk, eggs, fish, and butter. Add organic products and vegetables to lower your exposure.
Phthalates
Phthalates are used as plasticizers in PVC plastics. However, phthalates are not bound to PVC. Thus, they frequently leach into the air and food. Humans ingest, inhale, and come into contact with phthalates over the course of our entire lifetime, including during intrauterine development.
Research has demonstrated that phthalates can signal testicular cells to die prematurely. Studies have also tied phthalates to significant hormone changes, lower sperm count, and thyroid irregularities.
Avoiding phthalates: avoid any plastic wrap and food containers made with PVC, which is shown by the recycling label #3. Cosmetic products frequently use phthalates, so check the labels.
Flame retardants
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are flame retardants found in consumer products. You will find them in products like mattresses and TVs. They have widespread distribution throughout the environment, and they can accumulate over time in the human body.
They may imitate thyroid hormones and change thyroid function. Flame retardants have been linked to lower IQ and hyperthyroidism.
Avoiding flame retardants: Use a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter. If you are replacing old carpeting, use a high-quality mask to avoid exposure.
Atrazine
Atrazine is an herbicide product widely used on corn crops. It is used widely in the U.S., and it is known to contaminate drinking water.
Scientists have found that atrazine exposure impacts sex hormone production. It can turn male frogs into females that produce viable eggs. It is linked to breast tumors and prostate inflammation in animals.
Avoiding atrazine: Buy organic produce and use a high-quality water filter.
Perchlorate
Perchlorate is both man-made and found naturally. It is used in explosives, rocket fuel, fireworks, and road flares. It is found widely in produce and milk.
Perchlorate interferes with iodine uptake, which is a necessary nutrient for a healthy thyroid gland. Too much perchlorate may result in changes to your metabolism and affect brain and organ development in children and infants.
Avoiding perchlorate: Use a high-quality water filter and make sure you have an adequate intake of iodine in your diet.
Lead
Lead is a known problem. It is toxic to various internal organs and linked to many issues like lower IQ, brain damage, miscarriage, hearing loss, hypertension, nervous system impairment, and kidney damage.
Lead disrupts the hormone signalling that regulates your major stress system, the HPA axis. This can lead to stress related issues like immune function impairment, anxiety, depression, and hypertension.
Avoiding lead: Lead is found primarily in old paint. Wear a high-quality mask if you are renovating an older home.
Arsenic
Arsenic is a toxin found in food and drinking water. It can be fatal if you ingest too much. Small doses may lead to widespread, chronic health problems.
Arsenic interferes with hormone functioning in the glucocorticoid system that regulates sugar and carbohydrate metabolic processes. Disruption in the glucocorticoid system has been linked to weight fluctuations, immunosuppression, insulin resistance, and osteoporosis. Arsenic exposure has also been linked to increased risk for skin, lung, and bladder cancers.
Avoiding arsenic: Use a high-quality water filter. Washing and peeling your vegetables will reduce your exposure from produce grown in contaminated soil.
Mercury
Mercury occurs naturally although it is a toxic metal. It is released into the air by burning coal, and it can be found in contaminated seafood.
Pregnant women are at high risk for the toxic effects of mercury, since mercury has been known to concentrate in the fetal brain and can affect brain development. Mercury is known to have adverse effects on the adrenal glands, as well as the thyroid, hypothalamus, and pituitary gland.
Avoiding mercury: Eat sustainable seafood. Farmed trout and wild salmon are natural choices. Avoid king mackerel, shark, and swordfish.
Perfluorinated chemicals
Perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) are found in textiles, water-resistant apparel, plastics, rubber, and non-stick cookware.
Exposure comes through contaminated water, soil, processing equipment, and food packaging. They are resistant to biodegradation and easily accumulate in humans and the environment. Scientists are still learning about the adverse effects of PFCs. They believe that PFCs impact thyroid and sex hormones. They have been linked to poor sperm quality, low birth weight, kidney disease, thyroid disease, and cancers.
Avoiding PFCs: Use pans without non-stick coatings. Avoid water-resistant coatings on apparel, carpets, and furniture.
Organophosphate pesticides
Organophosphate pesticides target the nervous systems of insects that cause damage to agriculture and crops.
Many studies have linked organophosphate exposure to brain development and reproductive defects, though they are still widely used today. Namely, organophosphates affect the way testosterone communicates with cells in the body. It may alter thyroid hormone levels.
Avoiding Organophosphate Pesticides: Buy organic produce to limit your exposure to pesticides.
Glycol ethers
Glycol ethers are man-made chemicals used since the 1960s as solvents and stabilizers in personal, household, and industrial products. They’re used in degreasers, adhesives, cleaners, dyes, inks, water-based paints, lacquers, perfumes, and cosmetics.
Some studies have linked glycol ethers to blood abnormalities and spontaneous abortion. Research is also discovering that aerosol ether products may be linked to asthma and allergies.
Avoiding Glycol Ethers: It is hard to completely avoid glycol ethers. Avoid products that use 2-butoxyethanol (EGBE) and methoxydiglycol (DEGME). When possible, opt for natural cleaning products.
Use organic and natural products to limit exposure to EDCs
EDCs are found pretty much everywhere in our modern environment. They are found in food, furniture, cookware, and cosmetics. They’re in our air and our soil.
You can make a difference, even though EDCs are so ubiquitous. Make safe, smart, healthy choices in your everyday actions.
To limit exposure and protect your body, buy products from ethically driven and environmentally conscious brands that have your best interest at heart.