January 2019 saw the publication of an important new book, Sicker, Fatter, Poorer: The Urgent Threat of Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals to Our Health and Future … and What We Can Do About It, by Leonardo Trasande, MD, MPP, which details how exposure to EDCs is linked to a growing list of health problems and complex diseases such as infertility, early puberty, prostate and breast cancer, diabetes and obesity, behavioral and learning issues, including ADHD and decreased IQ, and even cardiovascular disease.¹ The book also provides tips on how to avoid EDCs.

What are they? EDCs are chemicals that mimic hormones and interfere with the endocrine system in the body, the system responsible for everything from growth and development to tissue function to mood and metabolism. Hormones are messenger molecules that travel throughout the body ensuring different parts of the body communicate with each other so that the entire body functions optimally. EDCs scramble and interfere with these communications.

There are hundreds of thousands of manmade chemicals on the market, and about 1,000 may have endocrine-disrupting properties. Common ones include pesticides; phthalates found in soft plastics and personal care products; bisphenol A (BPA) found in the linings of some canned foods, medical equipment, and thermal receipts; parabens found in personal care products; perfluorochemicals found in non-stick cookware; and brominated flame retardants, often found in electronics, furniture, and building materials.²

Research shows that not only are most people exposed to EDCs daily, but that children are especially vulnerable to their effects.

“At first it was thought that these chemicals had to persist in the body to cause harm, like a viral or bacterial infection,” Trasande writes. “Now we realize that though these chemicals themselves are often excreted within a few days, they leave lasting effects.”

His research links EDC exposure in children to lower IQs, obesity, type-2 diabetes, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and more.³

Children are more sensitive to chemical exposure for many reasons. They eat and drink more relative to their body weight (as compared to adults) so they can take in more toxins through their food or water. They spend more time crawling or lying on the ground, where toxic chemicals can be found, and EDCs can enter the body through the skin. Plus, young kids put their fingers and toys in their mouths, increasing exposure. 

Two of the most important organs in the body that work to eliminate unwanted toxins are the kidneys, which filter toxins out of the blood and into urine, and the liver, which works to package up toxins to be eliminated. But in babies and small children, these organs are still developing and not able to keep up with today’s high toxic load. Additionally, compared to adults, babies and young children have lower levels of the enzymes responsible for metabolizing environmental chemicals.⁴

“We have very tight windows of when, say, our brain and liver are made,” says National Resources Defense Council staff scientist Kristi Pullen Fedinick. “When a hormone-disrupting chemical gets in the way during these windows, it can change the ways these processes happen. The change is often irreversible.”

Scientists have also found that EDCs can increase the risk of childhood neurodevelopmental disorders or obesity by disrupting hormone processes during the most critical periods of development, including in utero. For example, small changes to a mother’s thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels during pregnancy are associated with reduced cognitive abilities, ADHD symptoms, and increased autism risk in the children born to those mothers⁵ (there are a number of endocrine-disrupting pesticides known to inhibit thyroid hormone production).⁶

Let’s look at three of the most common chemicals to cause endocrine-related health problems and how you and your family can avoid them.

Pesticides

We are exposed to chemical pesticides through diet and the environment, and while they are toxic to adults and children alike, children’s small and still-developing bodies are particularly vulnerable. Research has suggested that even low levels of pesticide exposure can affect young children’s neurological and behavioral development⁷ and many common neurological disorders found in children today, including ADHD and autism, may be related to disruption of the thyroid system while women are pregnant. Certain endocrine-disrupting pesticides can alter thyroid function, interfere with brain development, and cause declines in cognitive functions in developing babies.⁸

One common source of environmental exposure is through the pervasive use of glyphosate-based herbicides (like Roundup), used on lawns, in home gardens, and in public spaces such as parks and schoolyards. Glyphosate is a known EDC—and one of the most commonly used pesticides in this country.⁹

Another herbicide of concern is atrazine, which is one of the most commonly used pesticides applied to conventional corn crops throughout the country. Research is showing that it interferes with estrogen and testosterone production and metabolism. University of California, Berkeley biologists discovered in 2010 that atrazine can turn male frogs into females. It’s also known to affect humans, causing birth defects and low birth weights to babies exposed in the womb.¹⁰

Other endocrine-disrupting pesticides include chlorpyrifos, 2,4-D, and permethrin.^{11 12 13 14}

How to avoid it

Buying organic produce is one of the most important and substantial things you can do to significantly limit your family’s exposure to toxic pesticides. A recent study found that eating organic meals for just one week dramatically reduced pesticide levels in all ages; these included known endocrine disruptors such as chlorpyrifos, 2,4-D, and the neonicotinoid pesticide clothianidin.¹⁵ Because of their widespread use in farming, pesticides are also commonly found in drinking water, so make sure you have a water filter that can effectively remove pesticides.

Phthalates

These chemicals are industrial plasticizers that help make plastics softer and more flexible; they are widely used in personal care products to moisture skin, to make fragrances last longer, to dissolve and blend ingredients, and to impart flexibility to nail polish after it dries. The EPA estimates that we produce more than 470 million pounds of phthalates each year.¹⁶

Phthalates are used to make plastic food containers, children’s toys (though some children’s products have banned phthalates), plastic wrap made from PVC (look for recycling label #3), and are found in personal care products like nail polish, lotions, shampoos, perfumes, colognes, and body sprays.

One unexpected place you can find this class of EDCs is in restaurant food, according to a recent study.¹⁷ Researchers found that people who ate more meals from fast food joints, restaurants, and cafeterias had consistently higher levels of urinary phthalates compared to people who cooked at home with food from the grocery store. The group with particularly high levels? Adolescents.

Among adolescents, those who frequently ate meals out had 55 percent higher endocrine-disrupter levels compared with their peers who ate at home, according to lead author Julia Varshavsky, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California at San Francisco Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment.¹⁸ The researchers named “food contact materials and industrialized production” as routes of exposure. Another potential source of EDCs is in the industrial-strength cleaners that are commonly used in restaurants.

How to avoid it

Read labels on household and personal care products—avoid products with phthalates in the ingredient lists and look for products that say phthalate-free on the labels. Avoid household and personal care products that list “fragrance,” as this catch-all term usually signals hidden phthalates. Cook and eat more food at home (and make it organic!) and store leftovers in glass or stainless steel containers.

BPA

Bisphenol A, or BPA, is another common EDC compound most frequently used in the lining of aluminum cans. You may notice that some companies have started labeling their cans as BPA-free, which is a great step. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has also banned BPA for use in baby bottles and sippy cups, which is another positive step in the right direction. 

It’s important to know that research has linked BPA to everything from breast and prostate cancers to reproductive issues (both male and female infertility), obesity, early puberty, and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).¹⁹ When Centers for Disease Control (CDC) scientists measured BPA in the urine of 2,517 people, age six and older, nearly every sample tested contained BPA, showing widespread exposure to this chemical in the U.S.²⁰

How to avoid it

The good news is that studies suggest you can drastically decrease BPA levels by avoiding canned food with BPA linings; many companies have moved away from BPA-lined cans and will say so on the label—look for those. And try to eat fresh or frozen foods whenever possible. Don’t accept hand-me-down plastic toys and look for ones labeled BPA-free. Thermal paper receipts (the ones that are slick and a bit shiny) are also major sources of BPA; avoid handling those as much as possible and wash your hands after touching one.

Sunscreens & Kids

When it comes to kids and the outdoors, many parents believe that any sunscreen is better than none, but lathering on chemical-laden sunscreens can hurt kids because these sunscreens contain EDCs that are absorbed into their blood stream.

Endocrine disruptors in chemical sunscreens include the sunscreen chemicals themselves, such as oxybenzone, benzophenone, octocrylene, and homosalate, as well as other ingredients like parabens and fragrances.²¹

Instead, look for mineral sunscreens like zinc oxide and titanium dioxide that protect against UV radiation by acting as a physical sun block and do not have endocrine-disrupting properties, as well as sunscreens that are free of parabens, phthalates, and synthetic fragrances.

Safe & Simple Steps to Reduce EDC Exposure

Eat as much organic food as you can and don’t rely heavily on take-out food or restaurant meals—save those trips for special occasions.

When it comes to packing lunches, avoid plastic whenever possible. Use glass or stainless steel containers or lunch boxes, and replace plastic baggies with reusable cloth ones and use beeswax-coated cloth to replace plastic wrap. Replace plastic water bottles with glass or stainless steel ones.

Be mindful about what products you’re putting on your kids. Avoid lotions, soaps, shampoos, and other kid-oriented personal care items that may contain harmful EDCs. Read labels carefully, specifically looking for phthalates, parabens, and “fragrance,” as fragrances can contain phthalates and other EDCs. Ditch synthetic perfumes, colognes, and body sprays—they likely contain phthalates.

Most importantly, continue to educate yourself on EDCs and use your voice with companies and decisions makers to ask for better labeling and more testing to keep these dangerous chemicals out of our homes. Become an activist and demand that policy makers address the very real issue of EDCs that have become so ubiquitous in our food, our water, and our homes. We all deserve better, especially our children!

Editor’s note: Natural Grocers’ strict Quality Standards mean we sell only USDA certified organic produce, which is grown without synthetic pesticides; mineral-based sunscreens; body care products that are free of phthalates; and no BPA-laced thermal receipts or BPA linings in our Natural Grocers brand canned goods. 

References

1. https://academic.oup.com/edrv/article/36/6/593/2354738
2. https://www.hormone.org/hormones-and-health/endocrine-disrupting-chemicals
3. Trasande, Leonardo MD. Sicker, Fatter, Poorer: The Urgent Threat of Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals to Our Health and Future… and What We Can Do About It; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (January 8, 2019).
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5322271/
5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5322271/
6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3138025/
7. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4247335/
8. https://www.beyondpesticides.org/assets/media/documents/health/endocrine.pdf
9. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0300483X09003047?via%3Dihub
10. https://news.berkeley.edu/2010/03/01/frogs/
11. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1257596/
12. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23756170
13. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3138025/
14. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0960076015301126
15. https://foe.org/study-shows-pesticide-levels-drop-dramatically-1-week-eating-organic/
16. https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-09/documents/phthalates_actionplan_revised_2012-03-14.pdf
17. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412017314666
18. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412017314666
19. Cimmino, I., Fiory, F., Perruolo, G., Miele, C., Beguinot, F., Formisano, P., Oriente, F. (2020). Potential mechanisms of Bisphenol A (BPA) contributing to human disease. Int J Mol Sci, 21(16), 5761. doi: 10.3390/ijms21165761
20. https://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/BisphenolA_FactSheet.html
21. Wang, J., Pan, L., Wu, S., Lu, S., Lu, L., Xu, Y., Zhu, Y., Guo, M., Zhuang, S. (2016). Recent advances on Endocrine Disrupting Effects of UV Filters. Int J Environ Res Public Health, 13(8), 782. doi: 10.3390/ijerph13080782