Chemicals which influence our hormonal balance literally fill our reality. From the air we breathe in water damaged buildings to the plastic- wrapped food we eat, we cannot escape them. While we treat many in our clinic with mold toxicity for hormonal imbalances, the threat posed by such toxins is magnified by the plethora of chemicals applied to our skin or ingested in our diet. Collectively, both adults and children face the ongoing and progressive adverse effects of this toxic soup.
This article in Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition provides a great overview of the effects and sources of endocrine disruptors in our world as they appear to affect breast cancer. After reviewing the synthetic disrupters that we are poisoning ourselves with, they end with mycotoxins, particularly zearalenone. While I would give more attention to other mycotoxins which we see down-regulate and disrupt hormones in our patients, I greatly appreciate this rich source of information. I encourage you to read the article for yourself, but if you don’t have the time, here are the endocrine disruptors mentioned.
- Pesticides and DDT (p,p’-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane)
- Herbicides like Atrazine
- Dioxins
- BPA – Bisphenol A
- Phthalates
- PFOA – perfluorooctanoic acid
- Parabens
- PCB – Polychlorinated biphenyls
- PDBE – Polybriminated diphenyl ethers
- Oral Contraceptives
- Mycotoxins
In helping patients restore healthier more abundant lives, we must acknowledge and address this environmental soup of endocrine disruptors. These are modifiable risk factors not only for breast cancer as noted in the article, but for other endocrine factors like early menarche, irregular cycles, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, infertility, and early menopause. Either as a society which collectively bans the use of these toxic chemicals or as individuals who make choices against self-exposure, we must address this threat before it worsens.
Original Article:
Murphy Lam Yim Wan, Vanessa Anna Co, Hani El-Nezami. Endocrine disrupting chemicals and breast cancer: a systematic review of epidemiological studies. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 2021; 1 DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2021.1903382.
Thanks to Science Daily:
University of Eastern Finland. “Review summarizes known links between endocrine disruptors and breast cancer risk.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 20 April 2021. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/04/210420121509.htm>.
Read more from Dr. Potter on Mold and Endocrine here: https://sanctuaryfunctionalmedicine.com/topics/functional-medicine/the-mycotoxin-endocrine-axis/.
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.