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Hormone-disrupting chemicals are abundant in American fast food
New research shows that American fast food contains a significant quantity of endocrine-disrupting chemicals – toxins that throw our hormones out-of-whack. That means burgers, burritos, and chicken nuggets could be in part to blame for America’s health crisis.
In this article we’ll take a closer look at the research – but first, let’s better understand endocrine disruptors.
What are endocrine disruptors?
Some types of chemicals can wreak havoc on our hormones. Specifically known as endocrine disruptors, these chemicals can interfere with normal hormone signaling and even mimic the effects of hormones (like estrogen, testosterone, and thyroid hormone), thus pushing our bodies out of balance.[1]
Endocrine disruptors can be found in both natural and man-made products, including everyday household items. From plastic bottles to the linings of food cans, cosmetics, detergents, pesticides, the flame retardants used on children’s pajamas, and even the toys that children play with (and put in their mouths), endocrine disruptors play a significant role in causing and perpetuating disease.
Specifically, endocrine disrupting chemicals have been linked with:[2],[3],[4],[5],[6],[7],[8],[9],[10],[11],[12],[13],[14],[15]
- Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
- Decreased immunity
- Allergies
- Autoimmune diseases
- Metabolic diseases like obesity, heart disease, and diabetes
- Puberty trouble, like premature breast development in girls and abnormal breast growth in boys
- Thyroid disease
- Infertility, miscarriage, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), and low sperm count
- Cancer, specifically breast and prostate cancer
- Epigenetic changes that affect one’s children and even grandchildren. Bisphenol A (BPA), a type of endocrine disruptor, can even be found in the breastmilk of a mother with high levels of exposure.[16]
- Other health problems and diseases
Measuring the chemicals in fast food
In a study published in the fall of 2021,[17] researchers measured the concentrations of chemicals found in American fast food. Prior research had shown that people who consume fast food tend to have higher levels of phthalates in their bodies,[18],[19],[20] but the fall 2021 study was the first to directly measure the chemicals found in food items from popular fast food chain restaurants.
Foods containing meat were found to contain higher levels of endocrine-disrupting chemicals.
The researchers gathered cheese pizza, hamburgers, French fries, chicken nuggets, chicken burritos, and other foods, along with three pairs of clean, unused gloves from six different fast food restaurants in San Antonio, Texas. Using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, they then measured the concentrations of 11 different chemicals in the samples. Of the 11 chemicals screened for, eight were phthalates (synthetic chemicals used to make plastics more durable) and three were non-phthalate plasticizers.
Ten out of the eleven chemicals were detected in the fast food samples: 81% of the food contained di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP); 70% contained di(2-ethylhexyl phthalate) (DEHP); and 86% contained the replacement plasticizer di(2-ethylhexyl terephthalate) (DEHT).
Foods containing meat were found to contain higher levels of endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Interestingly, cheese pizza contained the lowest levels of most of the 11 chemicals.
There isn’t much research yet available on the risk of consuming the newer, non-phthalate plasticizer DEHT. One of the study authors explains, “We’re being exposed before we understand what it’s doing to our health. It’s almost like we’re setting ourselves up for a big experiment.”[21] DEHT was detected in 86% of the foods analyzed, and the concentrations were significantly higher in burritos than in hamburgers.
We’re being exposed before we understand what it’s doing to our health.
It’s worth mentioning that the primary source of phthalate exposure in humans is through food,[22] and this latest study confirms that endocrine disruptors are particularly abundant in fast food.
Food quality disparities
These study findings are particularly chilling from a health equity perspective. Many Americans live in “food deserts” – neighborhoods where fast food restaurants and convenience stores are much easier to access than supermarkets or farmer’s markets. It has been noted that predominantly Black neighborhoods – even high-income Black neighborhoods – have a higher density of fast food restaurants than predominantly White areas, and that Black people tend to consume more fast food than Whites.[23],[24],[25] The chemical contamination of fast food is therefore likely to disproportionately affect people of color and other marginalized communities.
Black people tend to consume more fast food than Whites.
Hopefully, studies like this one will incite tighter regulations on the chemical and food industries, inform people’s voting habits, and empower consumers to make healthier choices when deciding where – and what – to eat.
References
Click here to see References[1] “Endocrine disruptors.” National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Accessed November 30, 2021. Available at: https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/endocrine/index.cfm
[2] Lee DH, et al. A strong dose-response relation between serum concentrations of persistent organic pollutants and diabetes: results from the National Health and Examination Survey 1999-2002. Diabetes Care. 2006 Jul;29(7):1638-44.
[3] Carpenter DO. Environmental contaminants as risk factors for developing diabetes. Rev Environ Health. 2008 Jan-Mar;23(1):59-74.
[4] Feinberg AP, et al. Phenotypic plasticity and the epigenetics of human disease. Nature. 2007 May 24;447(7143):433-40.
[5] Skinner MK, et al. Epigenetic transgenerational actions of environmental factors in disease etiology. Trends Endocrinol Metab. 2010 Apr;21(4):214-22.
[6] Irigaray P, et al. Lifestyle-related factors and environmental agents causing cancer: an overview. Biomed Pharmacother. 2007 Dec;61(10):640-58.
[7] Bhatnagar A, et al. Environmental cardiology: studying mechanistic links between pollution and heart disease. Circ Res. 2006 Sep 29;99(7):692-705.
[8] Mendiola J, et al. Exposure to environmental toxins in males seeking infertility treatment: a case-controlled study. Reprod Biomed Online. 2008 Jun;16(6):842-50.
[9] Schug TT, et al. Endocrine disrupting chemicals and disease susceptibility. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2011 Nov;127(3-5):204-15.
[10] Diamanti-Kandarakis E, et al. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals: an Endocrine Society scientific statement. Endocr Rev. 2009 Jun;30(4):293-342.
[11] Fenichel P, et al. Bisphenol A: an endocrine and metabolic disruptor. Ann Endocrinol (Paris). 2013 Jul;74(3):211-20.
[12] Bertoli S, et al. Human bisphenol A exposure and the “diabesity phenotype.” Dose Response. 2015 Jul 31;13(3):1559325815599173.
[13] Hugo ER, et al. Bisphenol A at environmentally relevant doses inhibits adiponectin release from human adipose tissue explants and adipocytes. Environ Health Perspect. 2008 Dec;116(12):1642-7.
[14] Alonso-Magdalena P, et al. The estrogenic effect of bisphenol A disrupts pancreatic beta-cell function in vivo and induces insulin resistance. Environ Health Perspect. 2006 Jan;114(1):106-12.
[15] Grindler NM, et al. Exposure to phthalate, an endocrine disrupting chemical, alters the first trimester placental methylome and transcriptome in women. Sci Rep. 2018;8:6086. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-24505-w
[16] Geens T, et al. A review of dietary and non-dietary exposure to bisphenol-A. Food Chem Toxicol. 2012 Oct;50(10):3725-40.
[17] Edwards L, et al. Phthalate and novel plasticizer concentrations in food items from U.S. fast food chains: a preliminary analysis. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. Oct 27, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41370-021-00392-8
[18] Buckley JP, et al. Ultra-processed food consumption and exposure to phthalates and bisphenols in the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2013–2014. Environ Int. 2019;131:105057.
[19] Zota AR, et al. Recent fast food consumption and bisphenol A and phthalates exposures among the U.S. Population in NHANES, 2003–2010. Environ Health Perspect. 2016;124:1521–8.
[20] Martinez Steele E, et al. Association between dietary contribution of ultra-processed foods and urinary concentrations of phthalates and bisphenol in a nationally representative sample of the US population aged 6 years and older. PLoS ONE. 2020;15:e0236738.
[21] As cited in “Fast Foods Contain Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals.” Medscape. Nov 10, 2021. Accessed Nov 30, 2021. Available at: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/962638#vp_2
[22] Engel SM, et al. Neurotoxicity of ortho-phthalates: recommendations for critical policy reforms to protect brain development in children. Am J Public Health. 2021;111:687–95.
[23] Kwate NO, et al. Inequality in obesigenic environments: fast food density in New York City. Health Place. 2009;15:364–73.
[24] James-Todd TM, et al. Racial/ethnic disparities in environmental endocrine disrupting chemicals and women’s reproductive health outcomes: epidemiological examples across the life course. Curr Epidemiol Rep. 2016;3:161–80.
[25] Fryar CD, et al. Fast food consumption among adults in the United States, 2013–2016. NCHS Data Brief 322. 2018:1–8.
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Dr. Erica Zelfand
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