
Plant-Based Pregnancy Outcomes and Breast Milk
The composition of breast milk is compared between vegetarian and nonvegetarian women.
Topic summary contributed by volunteer(s): Claire
Polychlorinated biphenyls, also known as PCBs, are industrial chemicals considered to be carcinogens. PCBs may adversely affect male sperm counts and may be responsible for early onset puberty. Exposure to organic pollutants including PCBs, dioxins, and certain chlorine-containing pesticides may be a risk factor for metabolic diseases like diabetes.
The U.S. Congress banned PCB production in 1979, leading to a decline in contamination levels. However, most U.S. women today are contaminated with heavy metals, toxic solvents, endocrine disrupters, fire retardant chemicals, pesticides, and PCBs. Except for people living or working around industrial sites, the most common source of exposure to PCBs may be from eating animal foods, especially seafood, but also meat, cheese, eggs, dairy, and poultry.
PCBs can build up in animal fat and cannot be fully removed by washing or cooking. Once in the body, organic pollutants including PCBs and dioxin can persist for years. Pregnant mothers may pass on some of their accumulated PCBs to their children through the pregnancy itself and later through breastfeeding. A study showed that the children exposed at birth to PCBs from their mothers needed four to nine years to rid their bodies of about one-half of their PCB amounts.
Research indicates the top three sources to be fish oil, fish, and eggs. Fish are a key source of PCBs, dioxins, and other pollutants likely because of what washes into the sea. Farmed salmon averages almost ten times the PCB load of wild-caught salmon. Use of fish oil supplements, even those marketed as being distilled, can also expose people to PCBs and other pollutants. A study of 13 over-the-counter children’s fish oil supplements found that all were contaminated with PCB pollutants.
Eating a plant-based diet appears to help lower PCB levels in the body.
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The composition of breast milk is compared between vegetarian and nonvegetarian women.
I go over a case report of water-only fasting, followed by a whole food, plant-based diet for follicular lymphoma.
I discuss a public health case for modernizing the definition of protein quality.
Billion-dollar drugs pulled from the market for carcinogenic contamination less than that found in a single serving of grilled chicken.
Does choosing organic over conventional foods protect against cancer? The effects of pesticides on cancer risk.
One of the few food contaminants found at higher levels in those eating plant-based diets are mycotoxins, fungal toxins in moldy food ingredients, such as oats.
More than 95 percent of human exposure to industrial pollutants like dioxins and PCBs comes from fish, other meat, and dairy.
The most effective diet for weight loss may also be the healthiest.
Does eating fish or taking fish oil supplements reduce stroke risk?
The problem with fish advisories that tell pregnant women to cut down on fish is that it may be too late for certain persistent pollutants.