Episode 13: What are Xenoestrogens and Should I Worry about them?

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Hi, I'm Dr. Tabatha, the Functional Gynecologist.

I'm a board-certified OB-GYN and functional medicine physician.

I've embraced the world of functional medicine and wellness through my own personal health journey, and I'm super excited to share my wisdom and unique perspective as it pertains to women's health. So if you're struggling with hormone imbalance, weight gain, period issues, anxiety, and Insomnia, you name it, then you've come to the right place. I want to be your functional gynecologist. So welcome. Hi again. Thanks for joining me to listen to the question of the week. This question came from a patient recently who was worried about xenoestrogens. She said, "What the heck is a xenoestrogen, and should I be worried about it?" Okay, so let's just talk definitions for a second. Xenoestrogen is a foreign chemical substance that your body thinks is estrogen. It can either be a synthetic or natural compound that your body. Views as estrogen, meaning that it binds to estrogen receptors and can have the effects and mimic what estrogen does in your body. So endocrine disruptors are chemicals that interfere with our endocrine or hormonal systems at certain doses. So hormones run our body. Insulin is a hormone that runs our sugar and fat metabolism. Cortisol is a hormone that is used for stress management. Aldosterone is a hormone that's used to manage our blood pressure and salt distribution. We have many different hormones running our, our body all day long. The traditional hormones that we think of when we hear the word are our sex hormones like estrogen, progesterone, testosterone. Pregnenolone, DHEAA, those run our reproductive system. But all of these different hormone systems are part of our larger endocrine system, and they keep our body in balance. So endocrine disruptors are chemicals that interfere with that system. Xenoestrogens are one type of endocrine disruptor. So in 2015, the Endocrine Society released a statement on endocrine disrupting chemicals Specifically listing obesity, diabetes, female and male reproduction, hormone-sensitive cancers in females like breast and uterine, prostate cancer in males, thyroid, and neurodevelopment and neuroendocrine systems as being affected by exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals. So what that means is we are starting to realize that These chemicals in our environment have an effect on our system. So what are these chemicals and how did they get there? So synthetic xenoestrogens are compounds such as PCBs, polychlorinated biphenyls, BPA, which stands for bisphenol A, phthalates, atrazine, which is a herbicide, PBBs, and the list goes on. So these are compounds, mostly man-made, that we have used to create plastics, to create plasticizers to make plastic more pliable and flexible, for copying, as in like receipts when you go shopping. Every time you touch a receipt, you're exposed to these chemicals, and they're in tons of oil-based products, lubricants, car fluids, The list goes on and on. These all get leaked in and distributed through our water system, our soil system. They're in our medical equipment, our air fresheners, our cosmetics. The list goes on and on. So xenoestrogens and endocrine disruptors in general are ubiquitous in our environment. They're not going anywhere anytime soon. It is a very hot debated subject in the government. And our exposure is not going to change anytime soon. So we need to be very cognizant of our exposure and try to minimize it. Why? Because it is disrupting our hormonal system. It is creating obesity and diabetes and GYN problems. As a gynecologist, I will tell you that the rate of hormone imbalance seen in women has gone up significantly. This includes endometriosis, fibroids, polycystic ovarian syndrome, which is more of a metabolic issue with your insulin and cortisol hormones, and precocious puberty and intolerable side effects of perimenopause. The reason for that is these chemical compounds are absorbed through our skin, Through our digestion, through our air supply, they get into our system. They bind to our estrogen receptors, and they stimulate the HPO axis. And our body has a response, thinking that it's getting more estrogen. So we get a hormone imbalance. One prime example of this is the rise in precocious puberty. So we are seeing girls younger and younger having breast bud development and early periods. Periods because the xenoestrogens from all of our plastics in our food, in our toys, the bisphenol A in baby bottles, and the phthalates— those bind to the estrogen receptor and create a feedback loop where it talks to our children's brains. So we have something called the HPO axis, the hypothalamic Pituitary ovarian axis. That should not really kick in and be activated until puberty. But if you have excess estrogen-like compounds stimulating the system, you create the feedback loop to start earlier than it should. And your pituitary gland hears your hypothalamus say, hey, here's some gonadotropin-releasing hormone, it's time. To start this cycle and go into puberty, and the pituitary gland talks to the ovaries, and the ovaries start pumping out the estrogen that they weren't supposed to pump out yet, and it starts that cycle too early. Precocious puberty has been linked to pediatric and adult obesity. It's known to cause a higher risk of breast cancer. It's seen to increase endometriosis, adenomyosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and infertility. Not to mention the psychological distress on young girls who are not ready to handle puberty and affecting their self-image and self-esteem. Part of the issue has also been the endocrine disruptors in our dairy supply, Using antibiotics and growth hormone for milk production, but xenoestrogens have played a large role as well. So it's super important to get the plastics out of your child's life as much as possible. And if you have to use plastic, don't heat stuff in it. Don't leave it in the sun, and make sure that it's BPA-free. I remember when I first learned about xenoestrogens in residency, and One in particular caused devastating effects, but unfortunately society didn't know about that for decades later. So diethylstilbestrol, or DES, was a drug that was created. It was a nonsteroidal estrogen that doctors used back in the day to prevent women from having spontaneous abortions or miscarriage. So it was discovered that children of those women who were pregnant went on to develop vaginal cancer from their mothers taking DES while they were in utero. So it was finally banned in the '70s, but that was a xenoestrogen that affected the growing fetus and not just the mother. So xenoestrogens can come in many forms. They can be pharmacological. Ethinyl estradiol in birth control pills is a xenoestrogen. You can get it in the environment through mycoestrogens and phytoestrogens, which we generally think of as good. Those are the estrogen-like compounds in things like yams and soy that some women use to get through menopause. So don't be afraid of the word xenoestrogen. I just want you to be educated and know that the majority of the ones found in the environment created by chemicals are not doing your body any favors, and they may be contributing to hormone disruption and eventual disease progression or even cancer. We just don't know for sure. But what I do know is that you want to minimize the effects because it does seem to be a dose response, meaning the more exposure and accumulation you have in your system, the higher the likelihood that it will disrupt your endocrine system and cause a problem. So keep your exposure to a minimum. Instead of plastics, use glass for heating your and storing your foods. Use stainless steel for your water bottles. Get rid of those water bottles, especially don't let them sit in your car in the sun. When those heat up, those estrogen-like chemicals get into the water supply. Check your cosmetics and your personal care products and make sure that those are phthalate-free. So that's it. That's the quick question of the day and my short answer. We'll probably have to have a whole episode on that because It is a very broad topic with a lot of concerns, but mostly what I want you to take away from today is just take a step back and think, what am I eating, drinking, breathing? Is it maybe affecting my hormonal system? Good question. So go out and have an amazing day and hit subscribe if you haven't and share the podcast with your friends. Because we got to get this message out. We want every woman to be feeling their best, be thriving, functioning at their optimal best. And shoot me your questions and comments. I would love to hear them. I'd love to shout you out on the podcast. I want to know what you want to hear about because it's time for us women to take care of ourselves and each other. Until next time, have an amazing day.