Alkylphenol Endocrine Disruptors and Allergies

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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.

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Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.

In my video Preventing Childhood Allergies, I noted a study in Japan that found that “[h]igher maternal intake of meat during pregnancy was significantly associated with” about three times the odds of both suspected and physician-diagnosed eczema. They suggest that “[ce]rtain components of meat may affect the foetal immune [system].” But, what about the moms themselves?

Seasonal allergies have exploded in Japan in the past few decades, starting with the first reported case in 1964, and now affecting millions every year. We’ve seen a “rising prevalence of allergic diseases” around the industrialized world in past decades, but perhaps nothing quite this dramatic.

Researchers suggested profound changes in the Japanese diet may have played a role. Over the latter half of the century, total meat, fish, and milk intake rose hundreds of percent in Japan, so researchers decided to look into dietary meat and fat intake and the prevalence of these seasonal pollen allergies. No association with overall fat, but higher meat intake was associated significantly with an increased prevalence of disease.

So, maybe it was the saturated fat? No, that didn’t seem to be it. So, what other constituents in meat may be to blame? Well, there are the cooked meat carcinogens, the heterocyclic amines, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and nitrosamines—but, who knows?

This new review, however, raised an intriguing possibility. There’s a class of industrial pollutants called alkylphenols, recognized as common toxic endocrine-disrupting chemicals, that “tend to accumulate in the human body and may be associated with the adverse effects of allergic diseases.” A variety of studies have shown how they may exacerbate allergen-induced inflammation, suggesting “that alkylphenol exposure may influence the onset, progression, and severity of allergic diseases.” These toxic xenoestrogens can be found in human breast milk, stored up in our body fat, coursing through our urine, our bloodstream, and even in the umbilical cord blood going to our babies. How did it get there? How do people get exposed? Through contaminated food.

It all goes back to a famous study about the reduction of penis size and testosterone levels in “alligators living in a contaminated environment.” I don’t know what you all do for a day job, but these researchers observed that a population of juvenile alligators living in one lake in Florida exhibited a significantly smaller penis size and lower blood concentrations of testosterone, compared to animals on some different lake. “The most important difference between the two lakes was that Lake [stubby was] fed by…relatively polluted [waters]. They attributed the short penis phenomenon to estrogen-mimicking (xenoestrogenic) environmental metabolites of DDT” that still pollute the earth. “This [seminal] work introduced the concept that [endocrine disruptors,] environmental xenoestrogens might result in feminisation of exposed male animals.” And, that’s just the shriveled tip of the iceberg.

Since then, endocrine-disrupting chemicals have been implicated in the dramatic rise over the last fifty years of diseases like breast cancer, prostate cancer, testicular cancer, diabetes, obesity, decreased fertility, such as dropping normal sperm counts. Not to mention genital birth defects, such as penile malformations, preterm birth, neurobehavioral disorders in children linked to thyroid disruption, and earlier breast development in young girls.

“Because genes do not change fast enough to explain these increases, environmental causes must be involved.” Since our greatest exposure to the environment is through our gut, it’s no surprise that our greatest exposure to these endocrine-disrupting chemicals is through diet.

But, which foods? I’ll cover that next.

Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.

Images thanks to Stuck in Customs, guilherme cecilio, and Toban B via flickr

Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.

In my video Preventing Childhood Allergies, I noted a study in Japan that found that “[h]igher maternal intake of meat during pregnancy was significantly associated with” about three times the odds of both suspected and physician-diagnosed eczema. They suggest that “[ce]rtain components of meat may affect the foetal immune [system].” But, what about the moms themselves?

Seasonal allergies have exploded in Japan in the past few decades, starting with the first reported case in 1964, and now affecting millions every year. We’ve seen a “rising prevalence of allergic diseases” around the industrialized world in past decades, but perhaps nothing quite this dramatic.

Researchers suggested profound changes in the Japanese diet may have played a role. Over the latter half of the century, total meat, fish, and milk intake rose hundreds of percent in Japan, so researchers decided to look into dietary meat and fat intake and the prevalence of these seasonal pollen allergies. No association with overall fat, but higher meat intake was associated significantly with an increased prevalence of disease.

So, maybe it was the saturated fat? No, that didn’t seem to be it. So, what other constituents in meat may be to blame? Well, there are the cooked meat carcinogens, the heterocyclic amines, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and nitrosamines—but, who knows?

This new review, however, raised an intriguing possibility. There’s a class of industrial pollutants called alkylphenols, recognized as common toxic endocrine-disrupting chemicals, that “tend to accumulate in the human body and may be associated with the adverse effects of allergic diseases.” A variety of studies have shown how they may exacerbate allergen-induced inflammation, suggesting “that alkylphenol exposure may influence the onset, progression, and severity of allergic diseases.” These toxic xenoestrogens can be found in human breast milk, stored up in our body fat, coursing through our urine, our bloodstream, and even in the umbilical cord blood going to our babies. How did it get there? How do people get exposed? Through contaminated food.

It all goes back to a famous study about the reduction of penis size and testosterone levels in “alligators living in a contaminated environment.” I don’t know what you all do for a day job, but these researchers observed that a population of juvenile alligators living in one lake in Florida exhibited a significantly smaller penis size and lower blood concentrations of testosterone, compared to animals on some different lake. “The most important difference between the two lakes was that Lake [stubby was] fed by…relatively polluted [waters]. They attributed the short penis phenomenon to estrogen-mimicking (xenoestrogenic) environmental metabolites of DDT” that still pollute the earth. “This [seminal] work introduced the concept that [endocrine disruptors,] environmental xenoestrogens might result in feminisation of exposed male animals.” And, that’s just the shriveled tip of the iceberg.

Since then, endocrine-disrupting chemicals have been implicated in the dramatic rise over the last fifty years of diseases like breast cancer, prostate cancer, testicular cancer, diabetes, obesity, decreased fertility, such as dropping normal sperm counts. Not to mention genital birth defects, such as penile malformations, preterm birth, neurobehavioral disorders in children linked to thyroid disruption, and earlier breast development in young girls.

“Because genes do not change fast enough to explain these increases, environmental causes must be involved.” Since our greatest exposure to the environment is through our gut, it’s no surprise that our greatest exposure to these endocrine-disrupting chemicals is through diet.

But, which foods? I’ll cover that next.

Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.

Images thanks to Stuck in Customs, guilherme cecilio, and Toban B via flickr

Doctor's Note

Sorry for the cliff-hanger, but the video was getting a bit long. To find out which foods may contain these alkylphenol endocrine disruptors, check out my next video, Dietary Sources of Alkylphenol Endocrine Disruptors. 

Here’s the link to the video I mentioned: Preventing Childhood Allergies. A plant-based diet may also help alleviate allergies in adults; see Say No to Drugs by Saying Yes to More Plants and Preventing Allergies in Adulthood.

More on endocrine disruptors in:

A different class of chemicals has been found to be associated with smaller penis size in humans. See Chicken Consumption & the Feminization of Male Genitalia.

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