For over a decade we have known not to heat or microwave plastic, as heating plastic causes the release of xenoestrogens.

What are xenoestrogens?

Xenoestrogens are a type of xenohormone that imitates estrogen. They can be either synthetic or natural chemical compounds. Synthetic xenoestrogens are widely used industrial compounds, such as PCBs, BPA and phthalates, which have estrogenic effects on a living organism even though they differ chemically from the estrogenic substances produced internally by the endocrine system of any organism.

Xenoestrogens are clinically significant because they can mimic the effects of endogenous estrogen and thus have been implicated in precocious puberty and other disorders of the reproductive system.

As we live in a polluted world, xenoestrogens are everywhere. They are unavoidable. Because you can’t avoid xenoestrogens (they are in all plastics like televisions, computers, and phones), it doesn’t make a lot of sense to worry about them.

But.

There’s no need to increase your body’s toxic load.

Plastic Water Bottles are Estrogenic

People have long suspected that plastic water bottles were estrogenic, that is, they increased estrogen and lowered levels. The problem is much worse than most expected.

Using an optimized sample preparation strategy, we furthermore present data on the estrogenic activity of bottled water from France, Germany, and Italy: eleven of the 18 analyzed water samples (61.1%) induced a significant estrogenic response

See, “Endocrine disruptors in bottled mineral water: estrogenic activity in the E-Screen.”

In other words, it wasn’t any one brand of bottled water that was estrogenic. Nearly every bottled water screwed up your male endocrine system.

That makes sense when you consider how water reaches your store shelves. The water starts out at a bottling plant. It’s loaded into shipping containers that often reach temperatures above 140 degrees. The water is then drive cross-country through hot states like Arizona.

From bottler to shelf, estrogens are released.

Since a lot of tap water is disgusting, what’s the solution?

Are Brita Water Filters BPA Free or Estrogenic?

Fortunately many companies recognize the menace of xenoestrogens – or at least they recognize the market demand for estrogen-free products:

Read more