Anti-Androgenic Personal Care Items

You will find a lot of online content about testosterone boosting foods/supplements, what to eat and what not! But, what if we tell you that the things being used on routinely basis for personal hygiene can also affect your T levels!? All personal care items including, shampoos, soaps, deodorants, toothpaste etc. contain estrogen mimicking chemicals which may disrupt the androgenic endocrine system, causing negative changes in the serum testosterone levels.

Following are few anti androgenic chemicals that are frequently found in everyday personal care items:

Phthalates

Phthalates are used to enhance the flexibility of plastics but they are also found in many personal hygiene items as an emulsifying agents and stabilizers. According to a new research, high amount of phthalate traces in the urine are strongly related to a reduction in the serum testosterone levels in men, women, and children.

Parabens

Parabens are xenoestrogens which are used as preservatives in sunscreens, moisturizers, lotions, shaving gels, toothpaste, shampoos, and personal lubricants. They are also used as additives in the food.

Triclosan and triclocarban

Triclosan and triclocarbans are the anti-bacterial agents found in the anti-bacterial lotions, soaps and hand sanitizers, a must-have for hygiene conscious people! But, what if we tell you that these agents are not efficient enough to fight against the disease-causing bacteria!? In fact, they are found to negatively affect your serum testosterone levels by affecting the capacity of testicles to secrete this vital hormone.

Benzophenones

These are permeability enhancing UV stabilizers that are abundantly found in the sunscreens and other personal care products. As per research, benzophenones reduce activity of enzymes that are required for the production of testosterone.

List doesn’t end here! There are numerous chemicals used in personal care products which may have negative impact on the testosterone production, either directly or indirectly.

All these chemicals are highly permeable to skin and daily consumption can greatly disturb the endocrine balance. Good thing is that all these estrogens like chemicals are inessential ingredients therefore, switching to products that do not contain these ingredients won’t make any difference. In fact, it will be lot more beneficial for your hormonal health. Therefore, try using testosterone save products.

References:

• Orton, F., Ermler, S., Kugathas, S., Rosivatz, E., Scholze, M., & Kortenkamp, A. (2014). Mixture effects at very low doses with combinations of anti-androgenic pesticides, antioxidants, industrial pollutant and chemicals used in personal care products. Toxicology and applied pharmacology, 278(3), 201-208.
• Braun, J. M., Just, A. C., Williams, P. L., Smith, K. W., Calafat, A. M., & Hauser, R. (2014). Personal care product use and urinary phthalate metabolite and paraben concentrations during pregnancy among women from a fertility clinic. Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, 24(5), 459-466.
• Liao, C., & Kannan, K. (2014). Widespread occurrence of benzophenone-type UV light filters in personal care products from China and the United States: an assessment of human exposure. Environmental science & technology, 48(7), 4103-4109.