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Thread: Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals Threaten Women's Health Throughout Life

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    Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals Threaten Women's Health Throughout Life

    Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals Threaten Women's Health Throughout Life
    Mercola December 30, 2015

    Recent research reveals American girls are hitting puberty earlier than ever before. The median age for breast development is now around 9, with rare cases of extreme precocious puberty occurring in girls as young as 4.

    Precocious puberty is triggered by premature release of hormones, which results in sexual maturation, sometimes years before the natural norm. Research into the phenomenon reveals that environmental exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals plays a major if not decisive role.

    Interestingly, recent research1 also claims that high sugar consumption — specifically soda — can affect young girls' rate of maturation. According to associate professor Karin Michels, who studies links between environmental exposures, genetics and disease:

    "Our study adds to increasing concern about the widespread consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks among children and adolescents.

    The main concern is about childhood obesity, but our study suggests that age of first menstruation (menarche) occurred earlier, independently of body mass index, among girls with the highest consumption of drinks sweetened with added sugar."

    Early onset of puberty has ramifications that go far beyond mere physical changes. Emotions, behavior, mental and physical health can all be detrimentally affected.

    While some parents are resorting to drug treatment to keep puberty at bay in their prematurely developing daughters, a more proactive approach would be to limit exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals, starting as early before birth as possible, and to address your child's diet — specifically restricting all forms of sugar as much as possible.

    The Ramifications of Early Puberty

    Hormones, emotions and behavior tend to go hand in hand, which can lead to distress both in the child and her parents when puberty comes years ahead of schedule. As noted in a recent Newsweek2 article:

    "The mother of one 8-year-old wrote that her daughter 'is a very sexual being. Although she does not by definition understand what 'sexiness' means, she exhibits a very particular awareness of her body and wants other people to notice her...'

    No matter how physically developed a girl is, her psychosocial maturation remains anchored to her chronological age. 'These young girls get, let's use the term 'hit on,' by older boys and men and how can they be prepared to deal with it?

    Obviously, grown women have a hard [enough] time dealing with unwanted sexual attention,' observes [Dr. Marcia] Herman-Giddens [professor of public health at the University of North Carolina].

    The brain is highly plastic, and stressful experiences like these take their toll. Early-maturing girls are more likely to smoke cigarettes, they are at high risk for substance use, and they have higher rates of eating disorders."

    Precocious puberty is also associated with an increased lifetime risk of estrogen-sensitive breast cancer. For example, one 2013 study3 found that early puberty was associated with a 30 percent higher risk for breast cancer compared to entering puberty at a later age.

    Also, for each year that onset of menstruation was delayed, the risk for premenopausal breast cancer was reduced by 9 percent. The risk for postmenopausal breast cancer was reduced by 4 percent.

    Early Puberty Associated With Elevated Chemical Exposures

    The definition of puberty in girls includes breast development, growth of pubic hair and onset of menstruation. The average age of puberty for girls in the U.S. was 16 to 17 at the turn of the 20th century. Today the mean age at which girls get their first period is 12.4

    According to data from the most recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey,5 early onset of menstruation appears to be associated with elevated levels of certain chemicals, such as 2, 5-dichlorophenol (2, 5-DCP).

    2, 5-DCP is a metabolite of 1,4-dichlorobenzene (paradichlorobenzene), a chemical used in moth balls, room deodorizers, toilet bowl cleaners and other household cleaning products. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention6 (CDC):

    "Paradichlorobenzene has been detected in ambient air in households, bathrooms and new buildings, and in exhaled breath samples of persons living in households where room deodorizers and moth crystals were used.

    2,5-Dichlorophenol can also be formed in waste water treatment, wood pulp processing, and during the incineration of wood, coal and municipal waste.

    12 Worst Endocrine Disruptors

    As explained in an informative pamphlet7 on pesticides and endocrine disruption by Beyond Pesticides, endocrine-disrupting chemicals cause harm by:

    Mimicking the action of a naturally-produced hormone, such as estrogen or testosterone
    Blocking hormone receptors in your cells, thereby preventing the action of normal hormones
    Affecting the synthesis, transport, metabolism and excretion of hormones, thus altering the concentrations of natural hormones in your body

    Some of the biggest offenders are plastic compounds like phthalates and bisphenols (BPA and BPS) — if nothing else for the fact that they're so ubiquitous.

    Plastics are used in every imaginable household product, so you really have to make some decisive lifestyle changes to limit your exposure to these chemicals.

    Even then you're unlikely to avoid them entirely. Plastics continue spreading their chemicals into the environment even after they've been used and thrown away. Microscopic plastic particles now fill the water column in our oceans, where they get re-circulated back into our food supply.8

    As noted in the featured article,9 your body cannot metabolize phthalates, and indirectly, these chemicals can have an adverse effect on both weight and timing of puberty. Disturbingly, recent research also suggests that prenatal phthalate exposure may lead to reduced IQ in children.

    Bisphenol-A and bisphenol-S mimic the hormone estrogen, and as noted in a 2011 study,10 BPA is similar in potency to estradiol, and may influence a number of different endocrine-related pathways.

    Moreover, in animal research, adverse effects of BPA have been noted at levels below current acceptable daily intake (RDI) levels.

    Besides phthalates and bisphenols, other potent endocrine disruptors include the following.11 I've written about many of these in prior articles, so for more information about any particular one, please follow the links provided.


    http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar...chemicals.aspx

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