Endocrine disruptors + 6 ways to limit your exposure

#30. What is one of the main causes of hormone imbalance? Endocrine disrupting chemicals. You've heard of them before, surely, and today we'll talk about how they can impact your body and reproductive system.

Topics include:
- Recent EPA regulation change in the United States to limit PFAS levels in public drinking water
- What are endocrine disrupting chemicals?
- How can they impact your hormones and reproductive system?
- Where/how do we come into contact with these chemicals most often?
- Six recommendations to limit your exposure to endocrine disruptors

Here are the six recommendations:
1. Eat whole, organic foods when possible to limit pesticide exposure. Find out the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen in your area by visiting the Environmental Working Group's website.
2. Minimize contact with printed receipts which expose you to BPA
3. Replace plastics in your home with glass, metal, or other non-plastic products. Think about: cookware, anything you put food on/in, kids' toys, tooth brushes, and more.
4. Avoid artificially scented products and replace them with naturally-sourced ingredients. Think about: candles, air fresheners, perfume, and get an air purifier/plants indoors.
5. Start using clean cosmetic brands and/or use an app like ThinkDirty or Yuka to scan products in-store so you can understand what chemicals in the product may be linked to.
6. Use non-toxic menstrual products like the Nixit menstrual cup.

Use this link for 15% off your Nixit purchase

Studies referenced in this episode:
- Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals
- Environmental Toxicant Exposure and Menstrual Cycle Length
- Endocrine Disruptors
- Phthalates, bisphenols, parabens, and triclocarban in feminine hygiene products from the United States and their implications for human exposure
- EPAs New Standards for PFAS in Drinking Water

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

Welcome to I'm Hormonal, your source of information about women's hormone health and how to support your body. Naturally. I'm your host, bridget Walton, and I'm a certified functional hormone specialist and menstrual cycle coach. I am on a mission to hold these hormone conversations with as many menstruators as possible, because you deserve easier access to accurate information about what's up with your unruly menstrual cycle and with your fertility mysteries. Don't you think it's time that we figure this out once and for all?

Speaker 1: 0:41

On today's show, we are going to be talking about endocrine disrupting chemicals, so this is something that I've touched on in the past, in case you've been here before, but basically, endocrine disrupting chemicals are things that we come into contact with all the time through our food, through things that we put on our skin, through what's floating around in the air, but sometimes, of course, they can impact our endocrine system and therefore our hormones and our hormone balance and our reproductive system. So that's what we'll talk through today. We'll talk about what are endocrine disrupting chemicals, or EDCs, where do we find them, where do we interact with them, and then what are the top five or so recommendations of additions, subtractions or changes you can make to your daily life in order to avoid contact with these chemicals. So stay tuned for that. But first I want to say welcome to you listener. Thanks for listening to I'm Hormonal. I'm Bridget If you've been here before, then I really appreciate you coming back and your listenership. I'm really grateful for those of you who have shared I'm hormonal with some of your friends or other people in your life to help me grow the I'm hormonal community. So much appreciation to you and it's been really great to see the podcast grow over the last couple of months.

Speaker 1: 2:03

Well, let me give you one quick reminder that the information I share with you today and always is for educational purposes only. It shouldn't be used as a replacement for any sort of one-on-one support from a certified practitioner. I don't think there'll be a lot of confusion with that today, but anyway, if you are somebody who's looking for more tailored one-on-one support, then you can always reach out to me through the link in the show notes and we can find a time to chat to see if working together would be a good fit for you. Before we begin, I would just like to mention that I have an email list, so if you're somebody who would like updates in your inbox once or twice a month about hormones, how you can support your hormone balance, all of the same kind of stuff that we talk about here on I'm Hormonal. Then go to the link in the show notes, drop your email in there and we'll be in touch. So, without further ado, let's get into the good stuff here.

Speaker 1: 3:00

The Environmental Protection Agency this month which is April 2024, has made some changes in the regulations, which basically mean that they're going to be regulating the amount of PFAS that can be found in drinking water in the United States. If PFAS is new to you, then know that that stands for per and polyfluoroalkyl substances. Wish me luck in pronouncing that, but basically, pfas is a type of endocrine disruptor. There are many types. One of the ways that we interact or come into contact with this chemical is through the water that we drink, and so they're saying okay, we know that this chemical or this type of chemical is correlated with cancers and liver and heart complications, as well as immune and developmental complications. So let's limit this. Thank you, epa. I'm not here to necessarily report on what those changes are. I just wanted to give some background, although I'll include a link in the show notes to another podcast that you can check out, or there will be tons of other great references for what exactly is going on with that change and what it means.

Speaker 1: 4:13

Anyway, pfas are just one of many types of endocrine disruptors, so in this episode today, I'll talk about more than just PFAS. You may also be familiar with phthalates, parabens, bpa and like the 87 other syllable words that are endocrine disruptors. The normal way, or common ways that we interact with these chemicals is through our drinking water, also through plastic, because plastics have a lot of these chemicals in them which help them to be flexible or to maintain their structure. We've got plastic all around us, also through cosmetics or through fire retardants or, you know, carpets that have these chemicals in them. Last thing I'll mention would be waterproof items, so like rain jackets or your outdoor furnitures patio covering probably has some of these chemicals in them.

Speaker 1: 5:14

Let's talk about why these chemicals are called endocrine disruptors, and that would be because they are you guessed it disrupting what's going on in our endocrine systems, which is the system where our hormones are and how they exchange and interact in our bodies. So, basically, these chemicals can make it more kind of confusing or clouded communications, for our own natural hormones, like estrogen receptors are in many, many, many different types of cells and tissues in our bodies, and so some of these chemicals can basically plug up that estrogen receptor site, which then is going to prevent our own natural estrogen from, you know, being the key in that lock. Some other things though, for example BPA, which you may have, or you may be more familiar with this because you'll often see, oh, this water bottle is BPA free, but anyway, bpa can negatively impact peak estradiol levels, so that will impact ovulation. It can also have impact on follicle development, and then another thing that endocrine disruptors do is inhibit some of the enzymes that we need just to convert our hormones, one type of hormone to the other, and that's important when it comes to metabolizing and getting our hormones out of our body.

Speaker 1: 6:43

One thing that was new to me and super interesting, as I was doing some research for this episode, is that, for women who have PCS and endometriosis, there were found to be higher levels of BPA which were detected through their urine. But I thought that was really interesting. It's not necessarily a you know 100% for sure this is why you have PCOS or this is why you have endometriosis, by any means. So I want to make sure that I'm not conflating those two ideas. But anyway, the research findings was that women with PCOS and endometriosis have higher levels of BPA. I also saw notes that for young ladies who are exposed to BPA during childhood have a higher likelihood of developing PCOS. Or rather, if they were exposed to higher levels of BPA in utero, then they had a higher chance of developing PCOS.

Speaker 1: 7:42

So I say this here's my first time that I'll give this disclaimer, but this shouldn't be you know, I'm not saying this to scare you or frighten you right, this is a necessary sort of evil that's in our societies that we'll have to learn to work with. There's no way that we can limit our exposure or, you know, really tear it down to zero, but there are a lot of things that you can do in order to limit your exposure, be aware of your exposure, and that's really the best thing that you can focus on in lieu of being able to just eliminate your exposure completely. I have two more findings that I came across that I'd like to share before we move on to what you can do, some changes to consider. So the first one here it was discovered that high paraben amounts correlated with shorter menstrual cycles, also fossil fuel combustion exposure, so, like air pollution right was correlated with a slightly shorter luteal phase. Some of these health outcomes are certainly less negative, I suppose, than others. Like you probably will not recognize that, your luteal phase is, on average, a third of a day shorter than it would have otherwise been. Of course, that's less noticeable than if you are struggling with infertility and trying to understand what's going on there. But the common denominator on all of this is that these endocrine disrupting chemicals are interacting with your body's systems and your body's signals in a way that can preclude your body from going about its normal processes, normal hormone levels, not helping you to feel your best, and that's something to be aware of.

Speaker 1: 9:29

Now that we've got an understanding of what these chemicals are, how they can impact our bodies, let's look at a couple of recommendations of things that you can start doing or start considering in order to change your level of interaction and contact with these chemicals. So I've got one, two, three, I've got six things on my list that will run through. The first thing that you can consider is switching to organic food and a whole food diet. Of course, this will be somewhat dependent upon your financial ability to afford these products that are a bit more expensive. But through our food is normally how we're interacting with a lot of pesticides which are included in this endocrine-disrupting chemical under this umbrella. So switching to whole food and organic food that don't have any of these additives and chemicals, because other places where endocrine disorption chemicals are found are in, you know, frozen treats, anything that is extending the shelf life of a product and is processed. That's something that is obviously not natural and has the potential to have these chemicals in them.

Speaker 1: 10:44

What you can do is go to the Environmental Working Group's website and check out what their Dirty Delsen list is for your area. I'll link this in the show notes and what that'll do is tell you okay, based on where you live. So for me in California in the US, these are the top 12 fruits and vegetables that I should be buying organic because they have the highest instances of pesticides on them. They'll also have I think it's a clean 15 list for your area to say, hey, yeah, generally these 15 fruits and vegetables, you know they don't have as much pesticide exposure. So if you go with a non-organic you know the regular option then you should be in good shape. Check out that list and when you can, if you have the opportunity to spend a couple more bucks on organic produce, then definitely go that route.

Speaker 1: 11:38

The second recommendation that I have for you is to decline receipts. The receipts that you get at the self-checkout. Well, at any checkout, when you're buying something at the store, at the gas pump, anything that uses heat to print quickly on the label, those have high instances of BPA in them. So if you can avoid touching those papers, touching those receipts, then that would be a great way to avoid some exposure to BPA. If you're somebody who works in an environment where you're handling papers like that all the time, is there a way that you can wear gloves or wear a glove in order to minimize the contact between that receipt and your skin? Or you know, it's not the end of the world. If you do touch a receipt, like we all do from time to time, then just go ahead and wash your hands if you can afterwards. Avoiding receipts is a good zero dollar and zero cent way to limit your exposure. So I like to mention this one up here for number two on the list.

Speaker 1: 12:42

Now, number three on the list would be to take an assessment of your house, your living space, and see where can you replace the plastic items that you use with something that's less toxic, right? So, for example, if you're using nonstick pans, which generally contain PFAS, then can you replace that with just aluminum or steel pans rather, or is there another non-toxic cookware set that you can change it out with? This is obviously a higher ticket item, so if you have the opportunity to buy something that has been gently used, then that would be a great consideration both for your health or the health of your family and for the planet. Another thing to consider would be food storage containers. If you're somebody who uses all plastic storage containers, where can you start changing them out with glass ones? When you finish a jar of spaghetti sauce or pickles or whatever it may be, can you save that jar? You know, clean it out, wash it, save it and then store food in that in the future? Similarly, anything that you're going to be eating off of or cutting boards, you know, where can you minimize those? Especially, especially if it's something that you are heating up? So if you're heating up your whatever leftovers from last night on a plate in the microwave preferably a glass plate, not a plastic plate, and definitely don't reheat stuff in styrofoam. This will be my second disclaimer here you can't again, you can't totally zero out your exposure to these chemicals. If you eat food out of a styrofoam in a container, you're not going to perish immediately. You don't need me to tell you that, but just something to consider as far as what habits and what lifestyle characteristics can you shift away from for healthier living?

Speaker 1: 14:42

A couple more mentions here on the topic of replacing plastic within your home. Do you have a lot of plastic kids toys? I mean, I'm not a mom, I don't have any kids, so I can't speak to what that's like to convince your kids to go with different toys, but that's something to consider. As you are bringing these products into your home Whereas friends or family are gifting you things, how can you convey that request to avoid plastic things, especially maybe the things that kiddos are going to be putting into their mouth, to be putting into their mouth? Speaking of mouths, if you're using a plastic toothbrush, could you change it out for a bamboo toothbrush or another non-plastic, endocrine disrupting, chemical-free toothbrush? And then, last but not least, water bottles. If you're using a plastic water bottle and like truly, I'm guilty of this too, because my biggest water bottle is a plastic one and I'm somebody who apparently needs to leave the house with like a liter of water, but anyway, using metal or glass water bottles whenever possible is going to be beneficial for you. All right, let's move on to numero cuatro. All right, let's move on to numero cuatro.

Speaker 1: 15:57

Reconsider anything scented that you have around you, right, anything scented. Those are generally artificial scents. You know chemicals that smell like watermelon or strawberries or vanilla instead of the real deal thing. So it would be worth taking a beat to assess the perfume that you put on your skin every single day. Is that what chemicals are in that perfume? Potentially, also, if you're burning candles, that would be something that you can relatively easily replace with a natural candle that doesn't have chemicals in it. On that same line of thought, if you're using air fresheners in your house, then is there something else that you can use that you would also like, but wouldn't be filling up your air with chemicals. I'll also mention here lotions, anything scented like that that you put on your skin, and this will go into cosmetics. We'll talk about cosmetics next. But if it's scented, that should be a cue to your brain to think like hmm, is this a natural scent or is this a scent that is actually just chemicals.

Speaker 1: 17:12

Two final notes here. When it comes to scents, is well, scents or air, really? If you don't have an air purifier in your home, that might be something to consider. Sometimes the air inside our homes is, you know, more polluted relative to the air that's outside our homes. Why could that be? What's one contributing factor? Well, there's a lot more trees outside of my home than inside of it. So, anyway, getting an air purifier and bringing some plants into your house if you know, if you're not a plant parent yet, maybe it's time and that can, of course, help reduce your exposure to some of these endocrine disruptors and pollutants that we're breathing into our lungs.

Speaker 1: 17:57

So next, our penultimate line here, number five, consider clean cosmetics. So, wherever you shop, check out if they have a kind of pre-selected well selection of their clean options and planet aware options too, if you want to even go a step further, aware options too, if you want to even go a step further, I like to get my skincare and makeup products from Sephora and they have a list of clean and planet aware products that they kind of stamp with it, so it's super easy to see what is clean or what may have more chemicals in it. If you don't shop somewhere that has that, or if you just want to do a little bit more manual investigating, then you can download an app that will allow you to scan the barcode of a product and it'll give you, like a grade, it'll give you a score of what are the components of that product that have been linked to any array of potentially negative health outcomes. And so two just off the top of my head or that are on my phone, rather, are one Think Dirty and two Yuka, just Y-U-K-A. I'm sure there are a bunch more, but just two to start with, in addition to cosmetics, right? Or I guess I really want to. Just, you know, put this in bold and with an exclamation point, because even though it's something small, you know, oftentimes we're putting these things on our skin every single day, like every single day. This is one of the reasons, for sure, why women are exposed to these endocrine receptors at a higher rate than men are, because we're putting on the lotions, we're putting on our foundation, we're putting on sunscreen, we're putting on all these things in higher frequency. So it might be a couple more bucks, but in the long run, just assess if that's something that will be worth it for you to splurge by the product that's a little bit more expensive but that, in the long run, will be better for your long-term health. All right, let's talk now about my last recommendation for the day, which is one of my favorites.

Speaker 1: 20:18

I have not talked about menstrual cups or menstrual discs in a long time, but here we are back at my happy place, talking about menstrual cups. One place, or one set of products that exposes a lot of menstruators to these chemicals, are menstrual products, so this would be pads, tampons, panty liners, different types of lotions or soaps or sprays that you might use in that area, and it's important to note that because, of course, our skin, or the skin on your vulva and vagina, is super thin, and that means that these chemicals are really easily absorbed into your circulation system. There are a handful of organic, natural companies that make pads and tampons. One that comes to mind is Cora, although there are many others. So when you're buying pads and tampons, just check to make sure that it's a product or it's a company that isn't using parabens and phthalates and BPA in their products.

Speaker 1: 21:26

Coming back to the menstrual cup, though, this is an option that I love BPA free, phthalate free. It's not a plastic, because it's a medical grade silicone. At least with the Nixit menstrual cup it is. If you're interested in switching over to using a menstrual cup again, can't recommend this enough. But you can check out the link in the show notes so you can get a discount from Nixit when you buy. You can use code Bridget Walton or just go to the link in the show notes.

Speaker 1: 21:55

I think that the menstrual cups are great because it's limiting your exposure. Make sure that when you're cleaning the cup in between cycles, or you know as you clean it just from day to day during your bleed, that you are also using a soap that isn't like a super harsh soap or an antibacterial soap, because you don't necessarily want those particles to be inserted into your vagina either. But great way, super easy. Can't recommend it enough. All right, friend, we are just about ready to wrap up here.

Speaker 1: 22:33

What I want to challenge you with for this week, though, is just picking a time to spend 15 minutes or so with a journal, or like walking around your home and just considering what are some changes that you can make, maybe immediately, or maybe you know, the next time that your sunscreen runs out you'll remember or put a reminder for yourself to take a look for a cleaner sunscreen option. So just spend 15 minutes totally manageable. You can do it fit it into one day this week. You will thank yourself in the long run. So that's pretty much it for today.

Speaker 1: 23:10

Guys, go ahead and check out the link in the show notes to sign up and be a part of my email list. The next email that'll be coming out early next week is going to have a bunch of recommendations along the same line of our conversation for today. So it'll be coming out early next week is going to have a bunch of recommendations along the same line of our conversation for today. So it'll be a little bit of a recap for you. But I'll also have brand recommendations and other specific considerations that will hopefully make it easier for you to transition to a more toxin-free lifestyle.

Speaker 1: 23:38

If you're somebody who has some brand recommendations or something that you really love, dm me. I'll share it in my newsletter or I'll share it on Instagram there and would love to hear from you what are some products that you use or what is a change that you made that you just really are loving. If you found this conversation to be helpful today, consider sending this episode to a friend or a sister. You know that she'll appreciate it, and I would really appreciate it if you would help to grow the I'm Hormonal community. Also make sure to subscribe to I'm Hormonal if you want these episodes to show up automatically in your feed. I am so, so, so grateful for you listening and especially for those of you who have made it all the way to the end here. Thank you so much and I will see you next week. The Environmental Protection Agency, or ETA. Eta, okay, close.