Detox Your Life: What is Environmental Medicine?
Environmental medicine is an area of medicine that deals with the toxins in our environments and how they impact our body. Did you know that every day we are exposed to over 700,000 toxins? These toxins have impact on your hormones, gut, and immune system.
Disclosure: this post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links.
In this blog post, we’re going to cover:
Consequences of heavy metals
The connection of mold and poor health
Environmental toxin’s impact health
How to address these toxins and reduce your exposure
These toxins are substances or organisms that negatively affect health. They often disrupt biological processes within your body. BPA is a common one you may have heard about disrupting our hormones. The impact on the body varies from person to person. We are exposed in so many different places between our water, homes, the air we breathe, etc.
There are 3 main categories of toxins that you need to look out for: heavy metals, mycotoxins (mold), and environmental toxins which includes pesticides, herbicides, plastics, and preservatives.
Mold & Mycotoxins
Mycotoxins are toxins made by mold in our environment. They are small particles that can be absorbed into your body through your lungs. Symptoms vary from person to person, but many symptoms will be neurological complaints like brain fog, confusion, difficulties with memory, etc because mycotoxins love fat, which your brain is made up of. These molecules also have the ability to cross the blood brain barrier (BBB) (Teavernier, et. al., 2016).
Mycotoxins also have a great impact on your hormones like testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, thyroid hormones, and cortisol. Studies have shown that a specific mycotoxin (ZEA) binds to estrogen receptors in the body, decreasing or increasing estrogen levels, depending on the mycotoxin concentration (Kowalska, et. al., 2016). Low testosterone can be seen because mycotoxins target the cells in the testes in men called Leydig cells and kill them…eventually leading to decreased production of testosterone (Fenske & Fink, 1990). There is also impact on your gut barrier. Studies have shown there is an impact on intestinal functions and impairs the local immune response in your gut (Lew & Mohd, 2018). This means your digestive system will have trouble doing it’s job (break down food, take in nutrients) or protect you from harmful bugs.
Heavy Metals
Heavy metals are found everywhere in our environment and can cause a variety of different symptoms because they love to hide out in the tissues of your body, in areas that aren’t always checked.
Many of us are exposed to heavy metals every day, from so many different sources including the food you eat, the water you drink, or even the make-up you use.
The Subcommittee of Economic and Consumer Policy requested testing from 7 of the largest manufacturers of baby food and only 4 companies responded. Do you know what their studies found? All companies had high levels of arsenic, lead, mercury, and cadmium present in their baby food. Levels that are found to be dangerously toxic and higher than existing regulations of heavy metals.
Arsenic is a heavy metal we are commonly exposed to because of the concentration found in rice, especially conventional rice. Arsenic puts our body at more risk for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes (Karagas, et. al., 2019). I always suggest trying to find organic rice whenever possible. Then to soak the rice in water and drain before cooking normally.
Water is another big exposure of heavy metals and other forms of toxins, I always suggest getting a water filter that is made to filter out these types of toxins. My favorite is the Berkey, you can get yours here.
Other Environmental Toxins
Other forms of toxins include environmental toxins. These can be from parabens, phthalates, or other additives in food or make up. This also includes the toxins that are used as pesticides on our produce. Some pesticides build up in our bodies and make it difficult for them to breakdown and be excreted. The pesticides accumulate in your fat and mainly affect our neurological system (Crinnion & Pizzorno). These pesticides increase our risk for diabetes, neurological issues, ADHD, and cardiovascular disease (Crinnion & Pizzorno). I am sure many of you have heard the famous herbicide, Roundup (Glyphosate), in the news. There are many compounds in this herbicide that have been shown to cause symptoms and irritation to the human body, including specific cancers. If you haven’t heard of this herbicide, I suggest the book Seed Money to learn more about the background on this herbicide.
Other forms of environmental toxins include plastics like BPA, BPS, BPF, and phthalates. Why do these matter? BPA has been shown to cause many problems in our body including endocrine disruption. Studies have shown that BPA can play a role in different disorders including female and male infertility, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, PCOS, and insensitivity to insulin (Anses, 2011; Soto, et. al., 2008).
I cannot emphasize this enough, if you are having issues with your hormones ladies, ditch the plastic!
BPA has been shown to mimic estrogen, meaning it can do what estrogen is supposed to do in your body, causing symptoms of estrogen dominance (too much estrogen). Signs of estrogen dominance include: heavy periods, painful periods, breast tenderness, low libido, and more! It also has been shown to disrupt your thyroid hormones and even disrupt the barrier of our gut, increasing permeability (Feng, et. al., 2019). And while BPS and BPF have been produced due to the studies of hormone mimicry of BPA, the structure of these chemicals are so similar, you can assume BPS and BPF also have some of the same properties as BPA.
Another big player in the world of toxins is perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS). This is a chemical used in so many different products in our lives including stain repellents, waterproof clothing, fast food wrappers, and non stick pans (Teflon). These chemicals are known as the “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down easily, if at all, and accumulate in your body. PFOS have been connected to serious health problems like cancer, accelerated puberty, liver and immune system dysfunction, and it disrupts the activity of your hormones (thyroid hormones).
How do we protect ourselves from these toxicants? Eliminating exposure to all of these toxins is not always possible, but reducing exposure is definitely possible. There are ways to reduce your exposure, no matter where you live or what your budget is.
Where do you start?
Take a look at some of the food you are eating. The food you eat can be big source of toxins. Starting to buy some produce that is organic can greatly reduce your exposure. I know eating all organic fruits and vegetables can get pretty expensive, but there are ways to reduce exposure without breaking the bank.
There is a list, “The Dirty Dozen,” that is put out every year by the Environmental Working Group. These are the fruits and vegetables that have been shown to have the greatest amount of pesticides present on them. I would also include rice on that category too, because like I said above, regular, non-organic rice can be high in arsenic.
There is also the “Clean 15” that lists the foods that have the least amount of chemicals on them and don’t necessarily need to be bought as organic.
So next time you go to the grocery store, you can use this guide to help you make a more informed choice.
Reducing the amount of plastic you use daily is a great way to decrease your exposure to BPA as well. This one is a double whammy in my opinion. You can reduce exposure and save a little money in the long run. Here are the basics:
Stop using plastic water bottles – invest in a glass or stainless steel option like these here
Don’t put any plastics in the microwave, BPA can leach into your food! (plastic bows/plates, plastic wrap, etc.) And don’t put hot foods in the plastic!
Ditch the plastic wrap, plastic Tupperware, and ziplock bags! There are many other options that are less toxic, I love stasher bags . A plus side of them being reusable - no longer having to spend $$ on plastic wrap and ziplock baggies anymore!
Keep in mind BPA-free likely means it has been replaced with BPS or BPF, which are basically the same
You can find a complete list of the items I love to use daily to help reduce my exposure to harmful toxins like PFOS, BPA/BPS, parabens, and more here.
By taking these few steps, you are already on your way to reducing your exposure to some horrible chemicals!
Talk Soon!
xx Dr. Alyssa
Sources:
Anses, French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety. [Effects sanitaires du Bisphenol A: Saisines No. 2009-SA-0331 et No. 2010-SA-0197. Rapport d'expertise collective] http://www.anses.fr/documents/CHIM-Ra-BisphenolA.pdf ; 2011.
Crinnion, Walter J.,Pizzorno, Joseph E.. Clinical Environmental Medicine - E-BOOK (Kindle Locations 14019-14024). Elsevier Health Sciences. Kindle Edition.
Feng L, Chen S, Zhang L, Qu W, Chen Z. Bisphenol A increases intestinal permeability through disrupting intestinal barrier function in mice. Environ Pollut. 2019;254(Pt A):112960. doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2019.112960
Fenske M, Fink-Gremmels J. Effects of fungal metabolites on testosterone secretion in vitro. Arch Toxicol. 1990;64(1):72-75. doi:10.1007/BF01973380
Karagas MR, Punshon T, Davis M, et al. Rice Intake and Emerging Concerns on Arsenic in Rice: a Review of the Human Evidence and Methodologic Challenges. Curr Environ Health Rep. 2019;6(4):361-372. doi:10.1007/s40572-019-00249-1
Kowalska K, Habrowska-Górczyńska DE, Piastowska-Ciesielska AW. Zearalenone as an endocrine disruptor in humans. Environ Toxicol Pharmacol. 2016;48:141-149. doi:10.1016/j.etap.2016.10.015
Liew WP, Mohd-Redzwan S. Mycotoxin: Its Impact on Gut Health and Microbiota. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2018;8:60. Published 2018 Feb 26. doi:10.3389/fcimb.2018.00060
Soto AM, Vandenberg LN, Maffini MV, Sonnenschein C. Does breast cancer start in the womb? Basic and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology . 2008;102(2):125–133 [PubMed PMID] 18226065.
Taevernier L, Bracke N, Veryser L, et al. Blood-brain barrier transport kinetics of the cyclic depsipeptide mycotoxins beauvericin and enniatins. Toxicol Lett. 2016;258:175-184. doi:10.1016/j.toxlet.2016.06.1741
