We’re in contact with Parabans everyday, which are the most widespread preservatives out there! They are getting into our bloodstreams and actually ‘mimicking’ our hormones. This is one reason why women (and men) are suffering the distressing effects of hormonal imbalance today.
Why Are Our Hormones Such An Influential Part Of Our Health?
Our hormones travel through our body by our bloodstream and are powerful chemical messengers. These tell our body what to do and when to do it. Not only do they rule our reproductive system, hormones also govern our urinary, respiratory, cardiovascular, nervous, muscular, skeletal, immune and digestive system. So any ‘disruption’ of our body’s natural rhythm, can affect our body’s ability to keep our hormones in check.
How Do Parabens Disrupt Our Hormones
Parabens are getting into our hormonal system and ‘pretending’ to be our Estrogen hormone. This is bad. Many women of today are suffering ‘unknowingly’ from excess Estrogen circulating in their bodies. We then get a build up of too much Estrogen, which in turn decreases our other hormone, Progesterone, which in particular, plays an important role in preserving our health, aging and weight.
Where Are Parabens Found?
Parabans are in more than our lipsticks! They are used by manufacturing companies to make our beauty products, cosmetics, hair products, nail polish, processed foods and even medications. So as you would imagine, most of us have these things in our lives everyday, therefore we’re ‘unknowingly’ bombarding our bodies with these nasties, which can cause us a lot of imbalance in our health. It is then when our health is out of balance, that more serious health conditions can set in, such as hypothyroidism, autoimmune diseases, depression, obesity and the rest!
How To Avoid Parabens
Parabens are typically in pharmacy and supermarket products, so always check the ingredients list on all of your products and you’ll see parabens listed by their name or an E number such as methylparaben E218), ethylparaben (E214), propylparaben (E216), heptylparaben (E209) and butylparaben or any other name with paraben at the end.
Don’t listen to the front labels as this is just marketing. You need to actually check the ingredients list (usually in tiny writing at the back or side of a product. I recommend buying all of your personal care products from an organics shop such as Family Life Organics or Plant Essentials – Both in Townsville or there are many online organic shops too.
Parabens Are Found in Breast Cancer
It has been reported in the past that parabens are found in 99% of breast tumors, however, there is no evidence that they cause breast cancer. In saying this, ‘Evidence’ is a very ‘fuzzy’ thing these days, we have to keep in mind exactly ‘WHO’ are conducting the studies. In many cases ‘studies’ are funded by the very companies that for example use Parabens, so the results will be modified to protect many reputations. There was a 2013 study entitled “Combinations of parabens at concentrations measured in human breast tissue can increase proliferation of MCF-7 human breast cancer cells.”
The argument for parabens is that our foods and personal care items must be resistant to bacteria, mould and yeast, so of course a preservative is crucial. The food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries frequently rely on strong synthetic chemicals like sulfites, propionates, EDTA, formaldehyde, alcohol or paraben chemicals. They are trying to protect us from germs.
Thankfully there are now companies that can be trusted to make products that are always going to be free from these nasties and who use other alternatives which won’t harm us. We just need to keep in mind that these natural products won’t last as long.
Parabens Are Found in Our Foods
This is another reason to avoid processed foods at all costs. Foods such as jams, chutneys, sauces, icecream, soft drinks, processed vegetables, flavouring syrups are all typical foods which contain parabens. So you need to read the INGREDIENTS LIST, which is MORE important than the ‘Nutritional Panel.’ The nutritional panel just states salt, sugar etc. which is important to know, but it’s the ingredients list that states ‘what’ is in our food.
So The Upshot Is…
Read the ingredients lists or only choose products from companies who’s whole mission is to be completely natural, 100% organic and paraben and chemical free. It’s all about reducing our ‘toxic load’ nowadays, given that these things are everywhere and it’s up to us to protect our health from them.
If you’d like to check your hormone balance, take this test in my Instant Hormone Quiz – Download this HERE. Also please share this post with others so that we can make everyone aware of Parabens.
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