The Inside Scoop on Plastics and Pre-Pregnancy
It all comes down to hormones
Plastic products are chock-full of chemicals that interfere with how hormones are made and how they act. For example, the notorious BPA (Bisphenol A) (not the rapper), the poster child for endocrine disrupting chemicals, is found in everything plastic (containers, water bottles, food packaging) as well as in more surprising places like the lining of food cans, nail polishes, and even on receipt paper! When we use these products, we inhale, ingest, and absorb these chemicals. The problem? When our body breaks them down, it doesn’t fully get rid of them and the leftover compounds collect in our tissues, including in our reproductive organs. Since the structure is similar to estrogen, it can either mimic or block estrogen, throwing off the hormone’s action. This is why these compounds are called “hormone disrupters” - this is literally what they do!
So What this mean for Fertility?
Hormone disruptors like BPA negatively affect female fertility in multiple ways. When these chemicals are hanging out in the body, the key players in the brain that control hormone production and action (the hypothalamus and pituitary gland) no longer get accurate feedback about estrogen levels in the body - why? Because they are getting fake news from the hormone disruptors! This can lead to hormone dysfunction, which impacts egg growth and cell division in the ovaries. As a result, the overall number of eggs decreases, and the eggs that do make it have a lower rate of survival.
tips to keep hormone disruptors at bay
While it’s not practical to avoid contact with all the hormone disrupting chemicals out there, there are definitely things we can do to decrease our exposure, and even small changes like the ones below can add up and boost fertility.
Switch up plastic containers for glass and stainless steel options for food and drinks.
Don’t heat up food or drinks with a plastic lid or plastic wrap on top. Heat makes the chemicals in plastic leach out, which are absorbed into your food. Even microwave safe or BPA free products have other hormone disrupting chemicals that can have similar effects.
Ditch your receipts. If you don’t need that receipt from your weekly grocery run, don’t take it.
Get your sweat on and eat more fiber (read: veggies) to help support healthy detox and elimination.
Now that you know how to boost fertility for the gals, let’s not leave out the fellas!
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12958-019-0558-8
PMID: 26371021
PMID: 23904465