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A handful of you Roomies may have already had a little chat with me about oestrogen mimicking chemicals as well as substances that affect our thyroid gland function. These are known as endocrine disruptors, as the health of our hormones and glands that produce them fall under the endocrine system.
It's important to be aware of how much exposure we have to these external influences and adjust our lifestyles as we continue to learn and add new knowledge to our tool belt for better health.
The most common offenders are
Stressed plastic - UV radiation (from sunlight), microwaving, or boiling water
Treated water - chlorine and fluoride
Pesticides that inhabit the surface of our produce
Personal care products - make up, bathroom essentials
Household cleaners - laundry, kitchen and fragrances
An endocrine disruptor is defined as:
"an exogenous agent that interferes with synthesis, secretion, transport, metabolism, binding action or elimination of natural blood-borne hormones that are present in the body and are responsible for homeostasis, reproduction, and developmental process"
So when we talk about chemicals such as xenoestrogens, these have a structure so similar to our body’s own naturally occurring oestrogen that they can act in two ways;
Drive up oestrogen dominant conditions by over activating oestrogen receptors and stimulating oestrogenic tissues throughout the body
Take over the oestrogen receptor and stop our natural oestrogen from exerting healthy menstrual and fertility activity
And, just like oestrogen mimicking chemicals, there are also some which have a similar structure to our thyroid hormones T3 & T4. The issue being, they will compete with your thyroid hormones, meaning the influence your actual thyroid hormones have on maintaining good health is limited. The result of this leads to increased levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and mechanisms behind hypothyroidism by slowing down the activity in the thyroid gland.
Fluoride, chlorine and bromide can each affect thyroid hormones also. As they share a commonality in their molecular weight with iodine, these 3 elements have the potential to inhibit iodine uptake by the thyroid gland effectively disrupting thyroid hormone production.
Studies have explored the effects on a plethora of synthetic chemicals on animal and human health listing hormone imbalance and infertility, chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity, genome damage and cancer as health risks related to exposure.
So now you have the knowledge, but you might be unsure where to start, what changes are in your control and how to even implement those changes.
It's okay! It can be a slow process and here is where Anna and I can provide you with a guide on plastic free investments and first steps to a hormone safe home.
Join our email list to get the full low down on how these nasty chemicals can influence your health, where they occur and how to avoid them.
Use the CONTACT FORM BELOW with the codeword "EDC Sign UP"
This is not written to cause you any fear, it's about empowering you with information, allowing you to make better decisions for health and make some lifestyle tweaks to suit any of your health conditions that may be vulnerable to endocrine disruptors.