Have you ever heard of the term endocrine disruptor and wondered what it means? Well,
your endocrine system is a complicated messenger system that uses hormones to coordinate a variety
of processes in your body. An endocrine disruptor is a chemical that disrupts some of these
processes by mimicking or blocking our hormones. So, the question becomes
can endocrine disruptors affect fertility? Well stay tuned to find out.
Hello and welcome to my channel! I'm Melanie McGrice and I'm a specialist fertility and
prenatal dietitian. My goal is to help couples understand the power of good nutrition at
every stage of their fertility and pregnancy journey to give their baby's the best
start possible. If you're interested to learn more, check out some of my other
videos and connect with me on social media, all the details are in the comment box below.
In this video, I'm going to discuss diet related endocrine disruptors
and how you can best reduce your exposure to preserve your fertility.
The female reproductive system is governed by hormones and endocrine disruptor chemicals are
able to disrupt these hormones to such an extent that they can affect your fertility.
Unfortunately, endocrine disruptor chemicals are found literally everywhere,
from the soil to our water and even our air. While we are not able to avoid them completely,
the key is to reduce our exposure as much as possible.
Let's look at the top 4 diet related endocrine disruptors and what you can do to lower your risk.
Number 1: Pesticides
Pesticides is the umbrella name given to substances that help to control pests, whether
they are insects or weeds. Pesticide residue can be found on fresh fruits and vegetables.
That's why you need to thoroughly wash or scrub all your fresh produce under fresh running water.
You need to do this even if you're not planning on eating the peel because when you cut or peel
the produce, the pesticides can enter. Many people ask me if they need to use soap,
bleach or a commercial detergent. Although this sounds logical, there is no need and in
some cases, some of these detergents may contain additional endocrine disruptors!
Number 2: Heavy metals
There are a number of heavy metals that we are exposed to including, arsenic, lead and mercury.
However, the most widely consumed of the three, is probably mercury (in the form of methylmercury)
because it's commonly found in the fish we eat. The largest source of mercury contamination
originates from coal burning power plants where it eventually makes its way into the environment,
especially major bodies of water. Once in the water,
it gets absorbed by algae at the start of the food chain. Through a process of bioaccumulation,
the further up the food chain we go, the higher the concentrations of mercury is present.
This is why we are advised not to eat predatory fish like shark, ray, swordfish, barramundi,
gemfish, orange roughy, ling and southern bluefin tuna. Rather choose smaller, non-predatory fish
such as mackerel, silver warehou, atlantic salmon, canned salmon or canned tuna in oil,
herrings and sardines. It's important to remember that although mercury is obviously not great,
the health benefits of fish far outweigh the negatives and so it's perfectly healthy and in fact good,
to have fish 2-3 times a week. On a slight side note, if you aren't sure how to incorporate fish
into your diet, download my fertility meal plan at melaniemcgrice.com/fertility.
Number 3: Dioxins
Dioxins originate as a by-product of industrial processes but can also be emitted by volcanoes
and forest fires, and are known as persistent environmental pollutants. This means that once
they have been released into the environment they don't go away for a very long time.
Once they are absorbed by the body and stored in the fatty tissue,
it can take more than 22 years to be completely excreted.
Up to 90% of our exposure to dioxins comes from our food, mainly meat, dairy, fish and shellfish.
The best way you can reduce your exposure is to trim the fat off your meat products and eat a
variety of foods to make sure you're not getting a significant amount of exposure from one source.
Number 4: BPA
Have you ever seen a plastic container or bottle promising to be BPA-free? That's the
last endocrine disruptor on our list. BPA or bisphenol-A is a type of plasticizer that gives
flexibility to plastic products. In the last decade, some restrictions have been placed on
the use of BPA because of concerns of it leaching out and contaminating whatever you have stored in
the container. So, manufacturers are looking for suitable replacements. Unfortunately, the research
on the effect that these alternatives have on our health is minimal, which means we don't actually
know if they are safer than BPA itself! In light of this, I think it's a better option to invest in
some glass containers, which we know are safe and if you do use plastic containers, remember that
they are not suitable for heating, so don't use them in your microwave to heat up your leftovers!
As I said, we're not going to escape being exposed to these
and other endocrine disruptors, but we can focus on reducing our exposure.
So if you've got a burning question on this topic, go ahead and pop it into the comment
box below. After watching this video, I hope you feel better equipped to limit your exposure to
these endocrine disruptors. That's all from me today, but I look forward to seeing you in my next video!