How to Minimise the Impact of Environmental Chemicals in Our Everyday Life

Written by Jessica Cook, Naturopath
 
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I recently had the opportunity to listen to an educational talk by a Naturopath named Tabitha Macintosh. In this talk she discussed the environmental chemicals we are exposed to on a daily basis, and the impact it has on our health. Inspired by this talk, I wanted to write this blog to educate you on what these chemicals are, how to minimise your exposure to them, safer alternatives, and other tips for managing the health burden these chemicals cause.
 
Everyday Chemicals & Their Common Sources

●Bisphenol A (BPA): commonly found in plastics such as water bottles, and food storage containers.
●Phthalates: This is used to make plastics flexible and is also found in some cosmetic products, fragrances, personal care products and some food packaging.
●Parabens: often found in cosmetics, lotions, food and drink products.
●Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs): this chemical is banned/restricted in many countries however it continues to persist in our environment. This is often found in old transformers and other electrical equipment. It can also accumulate in marine animals.
●Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs): used as a flame retardant in furniture, electronics, and clothing. Accumulates in the environment so is often found in dust.
●Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAs): used in many consumer and industrial products, including non-stick cookware, water-repellent clothing, stain-resistant fabrics, carpets, and some cosmetics.
●Heavy metals: includes lead, mercury, arsenic, etc. These can be found in old paint, fish (especially high in the food chain such as tuna, shark, etc.), rice, and even tap water.
●Pesticides and Herbicides: DDT (although banned in many countries, still persists in the environment) glyphosate, etc. Found on non-organic fruits and veggies, home gardens and lawns, public spaces (golf courses, playgrounds, parks) tap water, etc.
 
How do these chemicals impact Health?
 
1.Disrupting Hormones: endocrine disrupting chemicals are types of chemicals that act by mimicking our own hormones. These chemicals have been linked to developing conditions such as type 2 diabetes, polycystic ovarian syndrome, endometriosis, and more (1).
2.Can Negatively Impact Fertility: Various common environmental chemicals such as pesticides, PCBs, and air pollutants can impact fertility by reducing semen quality, increased risk of miscarriage, and impairing foetal growth. (5).
3.Kidney and Liver Damage: Environmental chemicals, including dioxins, PCBs, and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), can disrupt liver functions by affecting various receptors and metabolic pathways. These disruptions can lead to liver conditions such as steatosis, steatohepatitis, and fibrosis (2). Other research has shown that exposure to environmental chemicals in pregnancy can increase the risk of developing kidney disease later in life by causing oxidative stress and reducing nephron numbers (nephrons are the little cells in kidneys that are part of our filtration process) (3).
4.Neurotoxic Effects: we are exposed to various neurotoxic chemicals in our home, work, school, etc. Chemicals such as lead, mercury, aluminium, arsenic, pesticides, etc. These chemicals can become ingested through our food and water or inhaled from industrial air pollution. Chronic exposure to these chemicals have been linked to impaired memory, behaviour disturbances, cognitive dysfunction, or conditions as severe as neurological disorders like Alzheimer's disease, or Parkinson’s Disease (4).
5.Increased Risk of Cancer: BPA exposure is a risk factor for developing thyroid cancer in those who are overweight (6). There have been associations with long term Phthalate exposure and breast cancer incidence (7). There is a strong correlation between exposure to xenoestrogens such as those found in endocrine disruptive chemicals and increasing the risk of developing cancer, especially when exposed in early life (8).
 
White it can be daunting to learn about these environmental chemicals, being informed empowers us to make informed choices for our health. A lot of people have no idea how these chemicals are impacting them and if they knew they would not be happy about it. With that in mind, let’s explore some ways you can minimise your exposure to these nasty chemicals.
 
Tips for Minimising Exposure to Environmental Chemicals
 
1.Avoid Teflon or non-stick cookware: these products are often coated in PFAS chemicals which when heated to high temperatures can break down and release into the air and food. Consider replacing this cookware with stainless steel, cast iron, or ceramic cookware. If you cannot afford to replace your cookware then try these tips:
●Throw out old and damaged cookware
●Use wooden and silicone utensils to avoid scraping and damaging cookware
●Use non-abrasive cloths to clean
●Cook on a low heat
●Ensure adequate ventilation when cooking.
2.Filter your Tap Water: There are various chemicals that remain present in our tap water, even after being filtered at local water treatment centres. There are many types of water filters out there, such as filters you can attach directly to your tap, benchtop water filters, or water stations where you can refill your water bottles with filtered water.
3.Choose Organic Foods whenever possible: If you can afford to choose organic as much as possible this will help to minimise your exposure to pesticides. If you cannot afford to do this you can follow the guidelines of the ‘Dirty Dozen’ and ‘Clean Fifteen’ lists. This is a list of the Dirty Dozen which is the food with the most pesticide residue remaining after washing, and the Clean Fifteen which lists the least pesticide residue left after washing.
4.Switch your Personal Care Items to more Natural Alternatives: Consider changing your personal care products to more natural alternatives to reduce your exposure to harmful chemicals such as your deodorant, body wash, face wash, makeup, moisturisers, etc. Here are some common chemicals you should try to avoid in personal care items: parabens, phthalates, formaldehyde, sodium lauryl sulfate, oxybenzone, octinoxate, etc. You can check out the Environmental Working Group's Personal Care Product Checker to find brands that are cleaner or get to know what’s really in your products, you can sort the products from least to worst hazard.
5.Switch your Household Cleaning Products to more Natural or Homemade Solutions: some popular more natural brands include Earth, Simply Clean, Koala Eco, Enviroclean, Dr Bronner's Castile Soap, just to name a few. Or consider making your own cleaning products such as a multipurpose cleaner recipe you can find here
6.Use a glass or stainless steel water bottle instead of plastic: plastic water bottles can contain chemicals that have endocrine disrupting effects, so choose stainless steel or glass as a safer alternative.
7.Avoiding microwaving food in plastic containers: instead place your food into a ceramic bowl or glass container to microwave. Microwaving plastic has been shown to release billions of microplastic particles; “It was found that some containers could release as many as 4.22 million microplastic and 2.11 billion nanoplastic particles from only one square centimetre of plastic area within 3 min of microwave heating.” (9).
8.Store your Food in Glass Containers: I personally store a lot of my food in old glass jars such as coffee jars, jam jars, etc. for things like avocados, half an onion, etc. Again, plastics can leach into your food when stored in plastic containers.
9.Switch to a Natural Deodorant: most deodorants contain aluminium which clogs your pores in order to have an antiperspirant effect, however this can be absorbed by the skin and have endocrine disrupting effects (10). These deodorants also often contain parabens, artificial fragrances, phthalates and more nasty chemicals you don’t want to put on your body. Consider more natural deodorants such as Dr Organic, Noosa Basics, No Pong, Eco Sonya, MooGoo, Woohoo, Schmidt’s, etc.
10.Wear a Mask when in High Pollution areas such as Busy Roads, Airports, Industrial areas, etc: you can also consider getting an air filter for your home if you live in a high pollution area such as near an airport or a busy road.
11.Check your house for Mould Infestation: make sure highly humid areas such as the bathroom are well ventilated and have your home checked for mould as this can significantly impact your health if mould is present.
12.Take off your Shoes when going Indoors and Vacuum Regularly: you can track all kinds of chemical residues into your home when you walk around outside. It’s also important to vacuum, consider investing in a vacuum that has a carbon filter to trap any pollutants picked up.
13.Minimise Consumption of Seafood that is Higher on the Food Chain: Eat sparingly seafood such as shark, swordfish, king mackerel, marlin, bluefin tuna, Atlantic cod, etc. These fish that are higher on the food chain accumulate high levels of heavy metals such as mercury.
 
While it's challenging to completely avoid these chemicals given their pervasive presence in our environment, we aren't entirely powerless. By making informed choices, we can significantly reduce our exposure. Moreover, adjustments to our diet and lifestyle can help counteract the effects these substances have on our health. Let's delve deeper into these strategies in the upcoming section.
 
Mitigating the Impact of Environmental Chemicals

1.Broccoli Sprouts: A clinical trial involving 300 people in China who lived in some of the most polluted areas, showed that broccoli sprouts were able to rapidly increase the excretion of harmful toxins such as Benzene from the body (11). Benzene is a harmful pollutant in our environment that has been shown to increase the risk of cancer. Another small study showed that broccoli sprout could reduce the inflammatory immune response in persons who were exposed to diesel exhaust fumes (12). You can easily grow your own broccoli sprouts on your windowsill and add them to salads, toast, sandwiches, etc.
2.Staying Hydrated with filtered Water: Staying hydrated is important to support your body's natural detoxification processes. Aim for approximately 2 litres per day of water for the average adult.
3.Eating Plenty of Fibre: Fibre found in fruits and vegetables is helpful for binding toxins within the gut to promote their elimination. Consider plenty of wholegrains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables.
4.Vitamin C rich foods: Vitamin C is a wonderful antioxidant and can help to reduce the damage that chemicals do within our body, as well as helping to detoxify them. Consider foods such as kiwi fruits, oranges, red capsicum, lemons, etc.
5.Garlic and Onion: garlic and onion is rich in sulphur compounds that support the liver detoxification process.
6.Turmeric and Rosemary: turmeric and rosemary are a wonderful herb and spice that have beautiful antioxidant, anti-inflammatory properties that support your liver detoxification processes. Include them in an abundance in your cooking, or consider turmeric lattes, rosemary tea, etc.
7.Berries: Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and other berries are high in antioxidants and phytochemicals that help reduce oxidative stress and inflammation that can be caused by exposure to environmental chemicals.
8.Green Tea: Contains catechins, which support liver function and detoxification.
9.Minimise alcohol: Alcohol can negatively impact your liver as well as other aspects of your health. If your liver is damaged this can impede your body’s ability to properly detoxify.
10.Minimise Processed Food: Processed foods can be full of additives and chemicals that further increase your exposure to harmful substances you want to avoid.
11.Avoiding Smoking, Vaping, and Drug use: These contain harmful substances but also like alcohol negatively impact your body’s ability to detoxify.
12.Regular Exercise: Exercise supports your lymphatic system which is an important part of your body’s natural detoxification pathways, the lymphatic system does not have a heart so it requires muscle movement to pump it along.
13.Ginkgo biloba: Ginkgo biloba is an amazing herb, it is one of the only plants that survived the Hiroshima bombing. Ginkgo is rich in powerful antioxidants such as bioflavonoids, terpenoids, etc. and has many medicinal uses in herbal medicine. You can drink ginkgo as a tea or talk to your naturopathic practitioner about a higher strength tincture or tablet if this is right for you.
 
If you would like to work on detoxifying harmful chemicals and substances from your lifestyle as well as supporting your body’s natural detoxification pathways, consider booking in with a naturopath like myself. I also offer Hair Mineral Analysis tests that can pinpoint any accumulated heavy metal residues in your body and can create a personalised treatment plan to support elimination. 
 
In health,
Jess

References
1.Kahn, L., Philippat, C., Nakayama, S. F., Slama, R., & Trasande, L. (2020). Endocrine-disrupting chemicals: implications for human health. The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, 8(8), 703-718. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7437820/
2.Wahlang, B., Jin, J., Beier, J. I., … Cave, M. C. (2019). Mechanisms of environmental contributions to fatty liver disease. Current Environmental Health Reports. 6(3), 80-94. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6698418/
3.Hsu, C. N. & Tain, Y. L. (2021). Adverse impact of environmental chemicals on developmental origins of kidney disease and hypertension. Frontiers in Endocrinology, 12. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2021.745716/full
4.Sharma, S., Wakode, S., Sharma, A., Nair, N., Dhobi, M, Wani, M. A., & Potoo, F. H. (2020). Effects of environmental toxicants on neuronal functions. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 27, 44906-44921. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-020-10950-6
5.Di Renzo, G. C., Conry, J. A., Blake, J. … Giudice, L. C. (2015). International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics opinion on reproductive health impacts of exposure to toxic environmental chemicals. International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics, 131(3), 219-225. https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1016/j.ijgo.2015.09.002
6.Marotta, V., Grumetto, L., Neri, I., Russo, G., … Vitale, M. (2023). Exposure to bisphenol A increases malignancy risk of thyroid nodules in overweight/obese patients. Environmental Pollution, 316, (1). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120478
7.Ahern, T. P., Broe, A., Lash, T. L., Cronin-Fenton, D. P. … Damkier, P. (2019). Phthalate exposure and breast cancer incidence: A Danish nationwide cohort study. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 37(21), 1800-1809. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30995175/
8.Fucic, A., Gamulin, M, Ferencic, Z., … Merlo, D. F. (2012). Environmental Health, 11(1). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3388472/
9.Hussain, K. A., Romanova, S., Okur, I., … Li, Y. (2023). Assessing the release of microplastics and nanoplastics from plastic containers and reusable food pouches: Implications for human health. Environmental Science Technology, 57(26). https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.3c01942
10.Gorgogietas, V. A., Tsialtas, I., Sotiriou, N. … Psarra, A. M. G. (2018). Potential interference of aluminium chlorohydrate with oestrogen receptor signalling in breast cancer cells. Journal of Molecular Biochemistry, 7(1), 1-13. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6108589/
11.Egner, P. A., Chen, J. G., Zarth, A. T. … Kensler, T. W. (2014). Rapid and sustainable detoxification of airborne pollutants by broccoli sprout beverage: Result of a randomized clinical trial in China. Cancer Prevention Research, 7(8), 813-823. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24913818/
12.Heber, D., Li, Z., Lloret, M. G., … Nel, A. (2022). Sulfurophane-rich broccoli sprout extract attenuates nasal allergic response to diesel exhaust particles. Food & Function, 5(1), 35-41. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24287881/