According to the American School Food Service Association, 70% of all school children name pizza as their favorite food, while the most common vegetable consumed by children are deep fried French Fries! Those who work closely with children and many mothers observe changes in children’s behavior and health directly associated with certain foods. It appears that infants and children up to the age of puberty are at highest risk for adverse affects from hormone disruptors that are present in our environment and our food.

What are hormone disruptors?

Hormone disrupters are synthetic chemicals that mimic naturally occurring hormones in our bodies. They have entered our lives in disproportionate amounts in the past 50 years. These toxic chemicals, also known as xeno-estrogens are present in the foods we eat, the air we breathe and the water we drink. They are able to mimic our naturally occurring hormones as they enter into our blood stream and bind to our hormone receptors. While naturally occurring hormones are subject to certain rules and regulations by our own mechanisms, the synthetic compounds become hormone disrupters by defying our body’s rules and regulations. Erroneous messages are produced when hormone disruptors antagonize or block our own hormones, especially when it comes to androgens (male hormones), thyroid hormones and progesterone. They modify the number of hormone receptors we have and the amount of hormone signaling in our bodies. They even alter the way in which normal hormones are produced and eliminated. They stimulate the release of other hormones creating an overall disruption that leads to hormone imbalance.

Aren’t these chemicals the same as natural hormones?

Absolutely, Not!  Our bodies produce short lived, highly potent chemical messengers (hormones) necessary to create certain reactions, generally, hormones are short lived and stay in our body only for the duration of time necessary to produce a certain reaction. They are easily broken down and eliminated and do not accumulate in our tissues. However, the exact opposite is true when it comes to synthetic hormones such as estrogens like those present in birth control pills, fertility drugs, synthetic HRT, many pharmaceutical drugs, long lived pesticides, and animal based foods that contain hormone residue.  Our bodies do not easily break down these synthetic hormones, on the contrary; they accumulate in our own fat cells and may stay with us for years continuing to exert their influence on our health.

How does this affect children?

Kids are not mini adults, their organisms are developing and they are much more vulnerable to substances that could be less harmful to adults. Children have relatively low levels of sex hormones in their bodies, so even a small increase in their hormonal activity in their bodies may be a cause for concern. In other words, the younger your child is at the time of exposure the greater the risk.

Where is the evidence?

In 1980, an accident at Tower Chemical Company in Florida released the pesticide, difocol, into Lake Apopka. Poisonous in large doses, this spill killed 90% of the lake’s alligators. By the late 1980’s, the lake was officially declared ‘clean’, however the lake’s alligators developed reproductive abnormalities never previously observed. Most of the male alligators could not impregnate female alligators because of deformed sex organs. Further, even among alligator eggs, hatch rates were just 20% of normal while baby alligators had an unusually high death rate. Even though difocol levels were extremely low they nevertheless had an effect on sex hormones that interfered with alligator reproduction years after the initial accident. This pesticide acted like a female hormone, estrogen, feminizing the males and causing reproductive problems. No such problems were found in the nearby lake Woodward, which was not affected by difocol.

The important question is – if these hormone disruptors can affect alligators, fish, birds and other wildlife, what is the likelihood that they will have an adverse affect on us humans and especially children?  Over the years it has been documented how endocrine disruptors were shown to cause significant harm in wildlife and humans. Women who suffer from endometriosis are in large part affected by endocrine disruptors. Other conditions include miscarriage, undescended testicles in young boys, low sperm count in men, and hypospadias – all of which are affected by hormone disruptors.

Now, back to our favorite food – PIZZA.

The link between cancer and hormones present in food, estrogen in particular, has been a concern for many years now. Dairy accounts for 60-80% of all estrogens consumed. The milk we drink today is not the same our ancestors were drinking years ago. Contrary to popular opinion, milk today may not be nature’s perfect food. Part of the problem is modern dairy farm methods where cows are milked for about 300 days per year. For much of this time, the cows are pregnant, and the later in the pregnancy a cow is, the more hormones appear in her milk. This is compounded by the environmental pollution that cows are subjected to including their feed, water, air, antibiotics, hormones and of course hormone disruptors.

Scientific studies comparing diet and cancer rates in different countries and cultures show that milk and cheese consumption are strongly correlated to the incidence of breast and testicular cancer. Cancer rates are the highest in Switzerland and Denmark where cheese is a national food and lowest in Algeria and other countries where dairy is not widely consumed. Butter, meat, eggs, milk and cheese are implicated in higher rates of hormone related cancers in general and breast cancer in particular has been linked to the consumption of dairy products.  With the highest rates appearing in Denmark and North America and the lowest in some parts of China and Japan. The sad thing is that in North America children under the age of 12 consume dairy every day. The early onset of puberty in girls is a well known risk factor for breast cancer. The average age of girls stating to menstruate is getting younger, it is not unusual to see a nine or a ten year old starting to menstruate now.  Just 50 years ago this would be very strange, but now it’s becoming common.

Why pick on pizza?

If our kids are indulging in an occasional slice of home made pizza from time to time, I think it’s great, especially if the whole family is involved in making it – that’s fun. However that is not the case with most families, they either purchase ready made frozen products or purchase these items in fast food chains. I remember years ago that pizza was actually classified by our food guide as a complete meal. This definition of complete meal would have to contain all four nutrient sources that we ‘needed’ to have. It had meat (pepperoni), cheese (dairy), wheat (grains) and fat. This was then the popular opinion of the day.  It sounds funny now, but it was not that long ago that this dogma was in vogue. On closer examination, when we now look at the typical two slices of pizza bought commercially we can expect to see 800 calories - including 39 g of fat (16 saturated) and 1300 mg of sodium. Complete meal indeed!

What can we do to avoid hormone-laced products with our children?

Educating children about their health and nutrition has to start at home with their parents. Plant based diets are much safer and more nutritious for the whole family. However, if you feel that your child needs to consume animal based products, at least consider organic or chemical-free. It would be very difficult in this day and age to completely avoid or eliminate hormone disruptors from our homes and our environment; however, at least we can make sure that we minimize their damage to our children. By making a shift towards healthier plant based diets, by eliminating plastic from cooking and storage in our homes and by providing fresh uncontaminated water to our children, we can affect not only them but many future generations to come. After all, without our children there is no future!

Alexander Mostovoy is a Homeopathic Doctor and a Board Certified Clinical Thermographer specializing in women's health issues. He is widely regarded as one of Canada’s leading authorities on homeopathic medicine and clinical thermography. You can reach him at 416 638-7555 or www.drmostovoy.com