LifeCare Chiropractic

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phthalates

Is That Prescription Giving You Breasts?

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phthalates in meds
fotorealis/Dollar Photo Club

Phthalates. Luckily, it took me less time to realize how bad they for our health then it did to learn how to spell the word.

It has been clear that phthalates play a role in infertility, preterm birth, birth defects (they have a feminizing effect on the developing baby), hormonal cancers like breast and endometrial, obesity and testosterone issues in men.  And I’m sure the list of damaging effects is much larger than we are aware of.  Any way you slice it, they are not good for you.

The scary part is that these chemicals are pretty much everywhere you turn.  In many studies every single person studied had phthalates present in his or her bloodstream.  But if you can’t avoid these chemicals entirely, at least you can be aware of where they are hiding and do your best to reduce your exposure.  The main reason they are found everywhere in today’s society is because they are used in the manufacture of so many products you use on a daily basis such as:

  • Anything with hat “new vinyl” smell
  • New cars (we keep the windows cracked while driving any new car in our family for months)
  • New flooring (vinyl tile and carpeting)
  • Food packaging
  • Latex adhesives
  • Nail polish
  • Even scarier, EWG.org identified phthalates in a large number of makeup products as well as fragrances (you know–that stuff found in EVERYTHING…).

Just in case this list is not comprehensive enough, I bring you this particular study.  In it, researchers looked at a not-too-often considered exposure to these chemcial compounds.

The polymer coating around many prescription drugs.

Yep.  Just in case the actual ingredients inside the capsule weren’t toxic enough, the drug companies have to wrap them up in phthalate-containing polymers just to make darn sure you don’t escape from any chronic disease you might otherwise avoid.  To see just how strong this exposure could be, researchers looked at the urinary concentrations of phthalate compounds in 7,999 patients who used certain drugs known to contain phthalates in the coating.  Here’s what they found:

  • Mesalamine formulations (used to treat ulcerative colitis; these drugs may contain dibutyl phthalate-DBP-to provide an extended release formula) users had urinary levels of phthalate compounds that were FIFTY times higher than non-users.
  • Didanosine (an HIV anti-viral medication) users had higher urine levels.
  • Omeprazole (that god-awful drug given to everyone who MIGHT have a stomach issue) had higher levels.
  • Theophylline products (used to treat asthma) also had higher levels.

Keep in mind that these drugs were the only ones tested.  There are likely other drugs that contain phthalate compounds in the polymer coating on the outside of the pill.  Regardless, even omeprazole itself was listed as the #6 most widely given prescriptions in 2010 at some 53.4 million prescriptions.  That is a LOT of potential exposures to a compound known to cause things like cancer and birth defects.

I, for one, did not really need any additional incentive to avoid medications, but not wanting to have order bras online from Victoria’s Secret as a man certainly adds to the reasons to use lifestyle to manage (or preferably avoid) chronic disease.

 

INCREASED RISK OF BREAST CANCER?

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Shower curtain giving your son breasts? Know that wonderful “new plastic smell” that comes from things like shower curtains and new cars?  They’re called phthalates and they disrupt our hormones, having an estrogen like effect. In boys, this can lead to breast development.

In this particular study, those boys with pubertal gynecomastia had a incredibly massive 25 TIMES the levels of a derivative in their blood. If this is causing breast development in boys, you can imagine what this is doing to girls. THESE are the things people need to understand. Exposure to these chemicals as a child can greatly increase risk of things like breast cancer.

MEN–IS YOUR WATER BOTTLE GIVING YOU BREASTS?

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So this is not the first time I’ve brought up the toxins in our environment.  However, the label of your bottled water certainly does not indicate that every case comes with a training bra, but maybe it should.

Many chemicals in the environment have an estrogen-like effect.  Most notable of these is plastics and compounds used in plastics such as bisphenol A (BPA).  The estrogenic effects have consequences for both men and women.

The most obvious for women is the increased risk of estrogen related cancers like breast and endometrial cancers.  However, early onset of menses and menstrual problems like endometriosis and PMS are influenced as well.

On the male side of the equation is an increased risk of prostate cancer and enlargement of the prostate.  Loss of libido and lowered sperm counts can contribute to infertility problems in couples.

This particular article puts a scary face on my strong recommendation to ditch the plastic water bottles in favor of water from an RO system into a BPA free water bottle.  The authors find that even many products labelled “BPA free” released high levels of BPA when exposed to UV radiation, high heat or microwaving.

The bottom line is that we need to avoid many of these plastics as much as possible.  Based on this article, maybe stainless steel or glass water bottles are less questionable.  It means letting new plastics like shower curtains fully air out before you leave them in an enclosed room.  It means leaving the windows down in your car to air out the phthalates coming off the dashboard.

Read More….

DO YOU HAVE LOW TESTOSTERONE?

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The understanding is that mainstream medical research takes about 20 years to make it into clinical practice, specialists included (unless it’s blockbuster drug research, in which case it seems to make it to doctors’ offices overnight…).  That means that current research I comment on won’t be used appropriately for at least another 2 decades.  While I consider this completely inappropriate because, as a physician, it is my responsibility to my patients to stay current to some degree, it is a reality.

However, there is an occasional glimpse of the sun through the clouds when mainstream medical practioners try to apply functional medicine concepts in limited aspects.  Probiotics are a key one–106 years in the medical literature and some docs are starting to recommend Florastor in limited situations.  Unfortunately, Florastor can work great to lower the risk of antibiotic associated diarrhea, but is not considered a probiotic to restore normal flora in the gut.  So, great idea for mainstream medicine, but inappropriate application.

Strangely, I see the same thing with checking testosterone levels.  I’ve seen more and more of this over the years, and some clinics even hang their hats on the idea of testosterone checking and supplementation (usually as pellets implanted under the skin of the glut region).  But it seems so out of context with the rest of the bloodwork checked that I just scratch my head in wonder.

Why?  Several reasons.  First, checking testosterone in the blood is not my favorite method.  Salivary testing is much easier and checks the levels of unbound, active hormone in the body, which blood testing does NOT do (it checks the protein bound, inactive levels). 

Next, if the levels are low, their is never a question as to why they are low; it’s just replacement with creams, pills, injections or pellets.  Which–by the way, can really screw up the way your body works.  It would not be the first time I’ve seen a male patient with low testosterone pushed into sterility from exogenous testosterone use.

In functional medicine, we would ask WHY are the levels low and address that aspect of the issue.  Many times, it can be an adrenal issue.  A chunk of a male’s circulating testosterone is actually derived from the adrenal gland (on the range of 5%) and we need to evaluate and support adrenal function via supplementation, exercise and stress mangement. 

Toxicity from the environment can contribute greatly.  The principal agent are the phthalates, which are well known to produce a feminizing effect on the male.  So avoid things with that “new car” or “new shower curtain” smell as much as possible.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002934311002749