As more and more people order food and use daily products made of chemicals, we are always exposed to environmental hormones. Environmental hormones are endocrine disruptors and are chemicals that affect health and reproductive action by preventing normal hormones from being made or operated in our bodies.
Keimyung-chan, a life science professor at Hanyang University, said, "The homeostasis of our bodies is maintained when hormones operate normally, and it is said that we have a disease that has broken it." Environmental hormones disrupt normal hormonal functions, he explained through KNN.
He then warned, "The environmental hormone, a chemical, has a structure similar to that of hormones in the body, and when environmental hormones enter the body, our body recognizes that hormones exist and acts." He added, "Cells need to work after receiving signals from cells of normal hormones, but when environmental hormones enter the body, normal hormones prevent them from working."
In Korea, more than 30 types of chemicals are managed by the Hazardous Chemicals Control Act, but compared to advanced countries, the number of managed and regulatory provisions are still insignificant.
Environmental hormones are continuously introduced into the body through various channels and accumulated in adipose tissue or discharged through urine, and it is difficult to measure and analyze because the environment or body concentration is very low.
Fetuses and infants are known to be the most sensitive periods to environmental hormones, but in reality, it is difficult to conduct research on children. In particular, there is a limitation in that it is difficult to study the causal relationship because the reactions may appear differently depending on the exposure concentration or individual of environmental hormones.
Nevertheless, epidemiological studies on pregnant women are also underway in Korea, and studies are being conducted to measure environmental hormones and to see the relationship with metabolic diseases in healthy adults.
Since we are exposed to numerous environmental hormones in every environment we live in and it is almost impossible to avoid them completely, we need to continue our interest and research on environmental hormones to prevent and manage various diseases.
Experts warn that environmental hormones cause body burden (total amount of harmful substances accumulated in the body) and cause various diseases if a small amount is exposed for a long period of time.
Jeon Ji-eun, a professor of endocrine metabolism at Gangdong Kyunghee University Hospital, said, "Long-term exposure to environmental hormones can hinder the development and development of cancer in reproductive organs." In particular, abnormalities such as decreased sperm count, decreased sperm motility, increased deformed sperm count, genital deformity, testicular cancer, and prostate cancer can occur in men, and endometriosis, uterine fibroma, and breast and reproductive organ cancer in women.
Environmental hormones can cause weight gain through promoting differentiation of fat cells and stimulating the central appetite. However, even with the same chemical, low concentration of exposure causes endocrine system disorders and increases weight, but high concentration of exposure can rather reduce weight due to cytotoxicity.
Along with weight gain, insulin resistance is caused, or chemicals directly cause beta cells in the pancreas to become impaired, increasing the risk of diabetes. So far, a number of studies have shown that exposure to residual organic pollutants such as organic chlorine pesticides and dioxins increases the prevalence of type 2 diabetes, and bisphenol A and arsenic are also reported to be related to the development of type 2 diabetes.
Although the risk of cardiovascular disease increases due to obesity and diabetes, studies have also published that environmental hormones are an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. As the dioxin concentration increased, the risk of death from ischemic heart disease and all cardiovascular deaths increased, and there was also a result that increased bisphenol A concentration in healthy adults increased the risk of coronary artery disease. However, there is not enough evidence to prove the ophthalmic relationship yet.
In addition, it can lower the concentration of thyroid hormones or increase the risk of asymptomatic hyperthyroidism in the case of mothers. It can pass through the placenta and cause sexual development and metabolic diseases of the fetus. There are also reports that it affects the growth and intelligence development of newborns.
Methods to avoid environmental hormones include avoiding canned drinks, food, not using plastic containers or wraps when storing food, not using chlorine bleach or cleaning agents, and reducing the use of disposable food containers.
Writer: Grace Jun
(Picture from Unsplash)
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