Protecting Your Endocrine System (Starts with Protecting Your Skin)
You use over-the-counter health remedies to relieve pain, breathe easier, lose weight, prevent heartburn, make your hair thicker and fuller, and so much more. Expensive lotions, serums, and creams to look and feel better.
Research is now showing that many of these so-called beneficial products create long-term damaging health effects (even nasty side effects) that might not appear until years later!
The chemicals being used aren't reversing the aging process, they’re creating an environment that can lead to rapid-aging and serious health issues like allergies, infertility, and even cancer.
Don't take for granted that just because an item has been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that it's safe to use. All the toxins below (now in heated debate) have been approved by the FDA at one time or another.
10 Toxic Chemicals Found in Common Health & Beauty Products
- Benzoyl Peroxide is used in over-the-counter acne products. May act as a mutagen producing DNA damage.
- MEA, TEA, DEA is a foaming agent can cause contact dermatitis and is easily absorbed by body organs.
- DMDM Hydantoin & Urea are two preservatives that release formaldehyde. May also cause joint pain, cancer, allergies, chest pain, ear infections, chronic fatigue, and insomnia.
- FD&C Color are synthetic colors are derived from coal tar that contains heavy metals. In animal studies, all have been found to be carcinogenic.
- Parabens are used in deodorants & other skin care products. May contribute to breast cancer, hormone imbalances, and early onset puberty.
- PEG (Polyethylene Glycol) is found in personal care, baby care, and sunscreens. PEG's are hormone disrupters and harmful to the body's endocrine system (the adrenal, thyroid, pituitary, ovaries, pancreas, and testicles).
- Dioxin is found personal care products; avoid triclosan as well because it degrades into dioxin. Dioxin is also found in bleached coffee filters and bleached paper products like diapers, napkins, tissue, and paper towels. Dioxin is a known human carcinogen and an endocrine disruptor.
- Propylene Glycol (PG) & Butylene Glycol are what the EPA considers PG so toxic that it requires gloves, goggles, protective clothing, and disposal by burying. The EPA also warns that contact can cause brain, liver, and kidney abnormalities.
- Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) & Sodium Lauretha Sulfate (SLES) are found in shampoos, conditioners, and 90% of personal care products. Also used in car washes and engine degreasers. Can cause eye damage, depression, labored breathing, diarrhea, skin, irritation, & death.
- Triclosan is a synthetic antibacterial chemical. The EPA registers it as a pesticide. Toothpaste containing triclosan has been linked to cancer-cell growth and disrupted development in animals. Products that contain Triclosan have been banned in the EU but continue to be widely sold in the United States.
There’s almost nothing more personal than what you swallow or use to rub on your skin, hair, and nails. From topical pain relief creams used relieve aches and soreness, to nicotine patches to help you quit smoking, down to the daily swipe of your trusted deodorant or antiperspirant.
Even though these products are supposed to help you – when you apply these every day “medicines” to your skin, they immediately begin to wreak havoc on your delicate hormonal balance. These products start to attack your endocrine system.
They act as endocrine disruptors or hormone mimics at the cellular level.1 Your endocrine system is the control tower for important body functions. It controls your reproductive systems, pituitary, thyroid, pancreas, kidneys, gut, liver, and fat storage.
As you rub just one of these products on your skin – your skin begins to absorb the chemical compounds; these chemicals can act like hormones or interfere with your body’s natural hormones.
Your Skin – A Miracle Entry Point to Your Entire Body
Our skin is a miracle of nature. It’s brilliant at absorbing over 60% of what is applied and it’s a supremely efficient delivery system to the bloodstream.2
It’s easy to forget your skin is one of your most vital organs.
An average-sized adult has 19.38 square feet (1.8m2) surface area of skin and around 8½ lbs. (4kg) making it the largest organ in your body.3 It is a self-repairing, sturdy, flexible barrier to the outside world and protects your critical internal organs.
On average women use 12 different personal care products daily and men use six different personal care products daily. That averages to 168 ingredientsdaily for women and 85 ingredients used daily for men.4
What’s even more shocking is that out of 9,747 household and personal care products) assessed by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) 77% are contaminated with impurities linked to cancer and other health problems. Only 11% of the ingredients used to formulate personal care products have been tested and reviewed for safety by the Cosmetics Ingredients Review (CIR).5
More alarming is that over 56% of personal care products contain penetration enhancers that deliver ingredients more deeply and efficiently into your skin. These products not only disrupt your delicate hormonal balance they can also lead to serious diseases like cancer.
In 2012, the World Health Organization released a 288-page report titled The State of Science of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals, “Nearly 800 chemicals are known to interfere with hormone receptors, hormone synthesis, or hormone conversion. But only a tiny fraction of these chemicals have been investigated.” 6
These hormone mimics can turn on, shut off, or change signals that your hormones carry which can affect the normal functions of your tissues and organs.
Endocrine disruptors are linked to...
- Reduced fertility
- Declines in the number of male babies born
- Abnormalities in reproductive organs
- Diabetes
- Increased weight gain
- Endometriosis
- Increases in mammary, ovarian, and prostate cancers
- Nervous system disorders
- Stunted growth and sexual development
- Decrease energy levels
- Increased immune and autoimmune diseases
- Early onset puberty
Removing these toxins (as quickly and thoroughly as possible) from your daily use is critical to your health. Start with cleaning out your medicine cabinet and get rid of any product that contains the ten toxins listed above.
From there, search for natural product that can take their place. If you try a “green” health or beauty aid that doesn’t work for you, don’t give up! Different people find that different solutions work for them.
Even mainstream cosmetic companies are seeing the dangers in these toxins being repeatedly applied to human skin. Many now offer “clean” versions of their original products. If you have a brand you trust, start there!
The important thing is to protect your body’s largest organ (and your precious endocrine system). Starting now!
References:
1https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/materials/endocrine_disruptors_508.pdf
2Ford, R.A., Hawkins, D.R., Mayo, B.C., Api, A.M. "The in vivo dermal absorption and metabolism of [4-14C] coumarin by rats and human volunteers under simulated condition of use in fragrances." Food and Chemical Toxicology 2001;39(2):153
3http://www.inchem.org/documents/ehc/ehc/ehc235.pdf
4http://www.cosmeticdatabase.com/research/exposures.php.
5http://www.safecosmetics.org/article.php?id=316
6http://www.who.int/ceh/publications/endocrine/en/