More on Obesogens - chemicals that can make you fat.

Everyday chemicals that may be messing with your hormones and metabolism:

BPA

BP-alphabet soup.  By now most of you have heard of bisphenol-A, a common chemical found in plastics and lining tin cans as well as thermal paper receipts.  Did you know that all bisphenols (not just A, but numerous other bisphenols)  all cause feminization due to their mimicry of estrogen in the body?  This means lower testosterone in men and more hormone problem in femaies.

Obesity, infertility, cancer.  BPA has been linked to everything from breast and other cancers to reproductive problems, obesity, early puberty and heart disease. According to government tests, 93 percent of Americans have BPA in their bodies.  "BPA-free" is no insurance of safety - BPA may have been replaced by BPB, BPG or numerous others with the same ill effects on health.

Reduce your exposure by investing in stainless steel or glass containers for storing beverages and food.  Steer clear of water bottled in plastic.

Dioxins
Dioxins are formed during many industrial processes when chlorine or bromine are burned in the presence of carbon and oxygen. They can bind to hormone receptors, permanently lower sperm counts and eventually cause cancers.  They accumulate in the food chain, and are the highest in fatty foods and certain animal foods such as dairy products, meats, farmed fish, and eggs.  

Atrazine

For one thing, feminization of male frogs. That’s right,researchers have found that exposure to even low levels of the herbicide atrazine can turn male frogs into females that produce completely viable eggs. Atrazine is widely used on the majority of corn crops in the United States, and therefore is a common drinking water contaminant. Atrazine has been linked to breast tumors, delays puberty and prostate in ammation in animals, and some researchhas linked it to prostate cancer in people.

Buy a water filter that can remove this common chemical from the water.  For a complete review of many available water filters visit the Environmental Working Group's Water Filter Guide at https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/water-filter-guide.php

Phthalates

Numerous studies have linked phthalates to hormone changes, lower sperm count, less mobile sperm, birth defects in the male reproductive system, obesity, diabetes, thyroid disease and even premature death of testicular cells.  This means phthalates tend to cause feminization.  

They are found in plastic products, plastic food wrap, plastic children's toys, and are also found in many personal care and beauty products masquerading under the name "fragrance."  Yet another good reason to limit the plastics in your house and any scented body products.  These compounds soak in easily through the skin, so steer toward unscented prodcuts.  The general rule of thumb is that if you woudn't eat or drink it, don't put it on your skin!

Perchlorate

This chemical is used in the production of rocket fuel, missiles, fireworks, flares, explosives, fertilizers, and bleach. It is a commone contaminant found in drinking water. Many food sources are also contaminated with perchlorate. It is known to disrupt the thyroid's function by interrupting its uptake of iodine from the blood. The EPA has also labeled perchlorate a likely human carcinogen. Avoid exposure by installing reverse osmosis water treatment system or a high quality large carbon block filter.

Flame Retardants

Compounds such as PDBE or Polybrominated diphenyl ethers and many others have been used for decades in insulation for electrical circuits as well as being impregnated into bedding and even infants' clothing!  These very persistent chemical persist for a very long time both in the body and environment and cause disruption of thyroid function and hormone disruption as well as lower IQ in children.  In testing performed around the globe, this class of toxin has been found in everyone tested.

Avoid by choosing organic cotton or bamboo clothing and bedding, and purchasing a high quality air fliter for the home with both HEPA and carbon block filtration to pick up contaminated house dust.

Coffee: The Original Wonder Drug?

OK - fibroid and anxiety sufferers close your ears, but the rest of you, check this out, fresh off the Medscape press.

The best part of waking up...is reducing your risk of neuro-degeneration. And depression, and cancer, and cardiovascular disease... It's becoming increasingly clear that coffee is more than just a morning routine. The body of data suggesting that the world's most widely used stimulant is beneficial in a variety of mental and medical conditions is growing at a staggering rate. A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that coffee consumption lowered all-cause mortality by over 10% at 13-year follow-up.

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Leave the Donuts Alone

A recent study published on Medscape confirmed that people who eat a diet high in junk and processed food have a higher risk for developing depression. Processed foods include pastries, dairy products, fried goods, breakfast cereals, and sugary snacks.

Even though these foods may feel rewarding in the short term, the reaserch shows that frequent consumption of processed food to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and even depression as this study shows.

One patient put it this way:

If it has more than 5 ingredients or anything you can't pronounce, don't eat it. If it comes out of a box, think twice about eating it.

Take the time to nourish yourself and your family with home-cooked food prepared from scratch. For info on where to get locally grown pasture fed, grass fed and free range meats, visit http://www.eatwild.com/

(More) Reasons to Avoid Roundup

Dr. J knows that many of you already take the extra effort to eat organic foods. Here are a few more good factoids to confirm that avoiding Roundup-ready foods and use of Roundup in your lawn is the right way to go:

According to a PhD Plant Biologist Don Huber, Roundup has a half -life of 22 YEARS. In layman's terms, this means the pesticide will persist in the soil for about 100 years. It persists in the crops for 6-8 years AFTER use is discontinued. Roundup doesn't kill weeds directly - rather, it binds with the minerals in the soil, making them unavailable for food crops as well as for the weeds.

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Lyme Disease - The Great Masquerader

Which tick is the most infectious????

The smallest tick is the nymph (about 1mm in size), which is also the most infectious. Imagine trying to find a tick that small on your skin, especially if you have dark hair or skin!

I've been contacted by patients with difficult cases and who've had multiple visits to other doctors, with little to no success. In reviewing patient history and exploring all other possibilities, it occurred to me - could any of this be attributed to Lyme disease? I look back on my practice in Maine, where Lyme was common among my patients, and it piqued my curiosity that the disease could be making its way into Colorado. Sure enough, these patients tested positive for chronic Lyme disease (which IS treatable, by the way!) When we look at the fact that people move around all the time, it only makes sense that Lyme has very likely found its way to Colorado by way of Oregon, Washington, Northern California, Texas, the Midwest, and the Northeastern Seaboard, where it is most prevalent.

I encourage people to watch the documentary "Under Our Skin" (available on streaming through Hulu, Netflix and other providers. It offers an eye-opening view into the disease, how it impacts people, and why it's often cast aside in the medical community.

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Vaccination and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

I get asked about vaccination frequently by parents. I'm not anti-vaccination, I'm PRO thinking about sensible timing and number of vaccines given at once.

Did you know that the current CDC recommended vaccination schedule has children taking about 24 doses of 10 vaccines by age 1 year and 50 doses of 15 different vaccines by age 6? It may be getting to be too much. Check out the full text of an article that shows the clear link between number of vaccinations and the correlation to the SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) rate. Click here to go to the article.

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What You Eat Affects Your Mood

Check it out! Mainstream medicine is finally catching on that diet affects mood.

This large research study found that people who ate fresh fruits, veggies, unprocessed grains and clean LEAN ANIMAL PROTEIN were at the least risk for anxiety and depression.

They also reported that young women who relied on a "modern" diet such as fruits, salads, fish, tofu, beans, nuts, yogurt, and red wine — was associated with a higher, rather than lower, likelihood for depression among younger, more educated women.

Even better, the study draws the ever-important distinction between feed-lot, GMO corn and soy fed beef and grass fed beef.

Everyone knows Omega-3 fatty acids such as those found in fatty fish are important for heart, brain and mood health. What not very many people have known up until now (in the mainstream anyway), is that grass fed beef has as much Omega-3 fatty acids as those cold-water fish.

Take home message:

Eating free range, grass fed meats with fruits, veggies and unprocessed grains is a great way to help prevent and treat anxiety and depression.