
What Diet Best Lowers Phthalate Exposure?
The highest levels of phthalates, hormone-disrupting plastics chemical pollutants, are found in meats, fats, and dairy.
Topic summary contributed by volunteer(s): Laura
A woman’s diet, even pre-pregnancy, may have a major impact on their children’s health. A mother’s consumption of high fat dairy may be associated with double the odds of an infant developing the birth defect, hypospadias. Nitrites found in processed meat, advanced glycation end products and heme iron all were found to increase risks for gestational diabetes, itself linked to a higher occurrence of birth defects. Contamination with methylmercury in seafood can lead to impaired fetal brain development and is a risk factor for epilepsy. The brain-boosting omega-3 fatty acids in fish cannot compensate for the risk of neurological damage due to the presence of mercury. Other pollutants, like alkylphenols found in meat, dairy and seafood, are endocrine disruptors linked to increased risk of birth defects and infertility, as well as of eczema, seasonal allergies and metabolic diseases. The carcinogen DES was once fed to farm animals, a practice that has since been banned.
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The highest levels of phthalates, hormone-disrupting plastics chemical pollutants, are found in meats, fats, and dairy.
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Is the reversal of cellular aging Dr. Dean Ornish demonstrated with lifestyle changes due to the plant-based diet, the exercise or just to the associated weight loss?
Consumption of even small amounts of garlic or raisins are associated with significantly lower risk of pregnant women going into premature labor or having their water break too soon.
By testing chicken feathers for chemical residues, researchers aim to find out what the poultry industry is feeding their birds. The presence of banned drugs and a broad range of pharmaceuticals raises concern, recalling the time in which DES was fed to chickens for years after it was shown to cause human vagina cancer.
The levels of arsenic, banned pesticides, and dioxins exceeded cancer benchmarks in each of the 364 children tested. Which foods were the primary sources of toxic pollutants for preschoolers and their parents?
The dramatic rise of allergic diseases such as eczema and seasonal allergies may be related to dietary exposure to endocrine-disruptor xenoestrogens, such as alkylphenol industrial pollutants.
Eating meat or eggs before pregnancy may increase the risk of gestational diabetes.