12 Hormone-Altering Chemicals And How To Avoid Them

There is no end to the tricks that endocrine disruptors can play on our bodies: increasing production of certain hormones; decreasing production of others; imitating hormones; turning one hormone into another; interfering with hormone signaling; telling cells to die prematurely; competing with essential nutrients; binding to essential hormones; accumulating in organs that
produce hormones. We will be doing a series of these dangerous endocrine disruptors over the next few weeks. Here is the first of 12 of the worst hormone disruptors, how they do their dirty deeds, and some tips on how you can avoid them.

BPA tops the first endocrine disruptor on our list. Believe it or not, BPA is a chemical used in plastics that can imitate the sex hormone estrogen in your body! Unfortunately, this synthetic hormone can trick the body into thinking its the real thing- and the results aren’t good. BPA has been linked to everything from breast and other forms of cancers to reproductive problems, obesity, heart disease and early puberty. According to many government tests roughly 93 percent of Americans have BPA in their body!

How can you avoid this!?

Go fresh instead of canned whenever possible. Many food cans have BPA in the metal lining. You can research which companies don’t use BPA or similar chemicals in their products. Ask for electronic receipts as thermal paper is also coated with BPA as well. Avoid plastics marked “PC”, for polycarbonate, or recycling label #7. Not all of these plastics contain BPA, but many do- and its better safe than sorry when it comes to keeping synthetic hormones out of your body. For more tips, check out ewg.org