Many of these new chemicals in our environment are oestrogenic – they mimic the chemical structure of the female hormone oestrogen and can bind on to oestrogen receptor sites in the human body, be it on bone, breast tissue or prostate tissue. However, these chemicals can often times by far more powerful than human oestrogen which can signal for cells to divide rapidly or even cause DNA damage. What this may result in, and what we are seeing more and more of is a greater incidence of disease occurring in both men and women that are in part due to the effects of oestrogen, namely breast cancer in males and females, ovarian cancer, gynomastica, endometriosis and fibroids to name a few.
What can we do to fight against this tide of foreign oestrogens? The first step is to decrease your exposure to these foreign oestrogens. There are many sources of oestrogen’s that can contaminate our bodies, these include:
• Pesticides – DDT, DDE, endosulfan, methoxychlor
• Bisphenol A found in the lining of tin cans
• Industrial compounds – PCB’s and dioxins
• Pharmaceutical drugs – the pill and HRT
• Parabens from cosmetics – found in breast Ca tumours, shrink male rats testes, lower sperm count and decreases testosterone
• Phthalates – from cosmetics, fragrances and PVC cause testicular dysfunction
• Atrazine – a herbicides causes a 10 fold decrease in testosterone
Knowing where these sources are and avoiding them is a great strategy to reduce your exposure to foreign oestrogen (also know as xenoestrogen). Tomorrow i’ll post 10 ways to reduce your exposure to these harmful chemicals.