The doctor Nicolás Olea, professor of Radiology and Physical Medicine at the University of Granada, researcher and reference in endocrine disruption, publishes a new book: 80 recommendations to avoid toxins (Ed. RBA), an essential practical guide for reduce exposure to endocrine disruptors and microplastics, very practical and with pleasant language suitable for all audiences.

Dr. Olea is a great popularizer especially what it entails living surrounded by chemicals that alter our hormonal balance without us being barely aware of it. After the success of his first bookFree yourself from toxins (Ed. RBA) where he explained to us what endocrine disruptors are and what we can do to protect our health, continues to guide us towards the goal of achieve a healthier environment.

women, the most affected by toxins

We spoke with Dr. Olea for the first time before the publication of his new book. And we begin by asking him about the title, since the prologue reveals that other proposals were considered, such as Preventing Young Women’s Exposure to Petroleum-Derived Environmental Chemical Pollutants.

-Why do you speak to the young woman specifically?
After many studies of both exposure measurementas of adverse health effectwe have seen how the woman is in the center of most of the observations.

First, because speaking of hormones, it would seem that Women are much more sensitive to the adverse effect of exogenous hormones (endocrine disruptors), perhaps because their own hormonal levels vary throughout their lives (menarche, pregnancy, lactation, menopause) and during the ovarian cycle in the fertile stage. These hormonal fluctuations and the changes that come with them could be more likely to be affected by hormonal pollutants.

Second, due to the particularity of the exhibition and the “possibility of cleaning”. Let me explain, we have seen how pregnancy and lactation It represents an opportunity for the transmission of contaminants, accumulated or not, from the mother to the embryo, fetus or child during lactation.

This is an issue that requires much more health and social care, if it is about preventing exposure in critical phases of development. Everything suggests that the mother is cleansed of contaminants through pregnancy and breastfeeding.

the effects of disruptors on health

-Chronic fatigue, inflammation, thyroid problems or weight gain are very common problems. Is the role that disruptors can play taken into account?
Very rarely. It is very striking the case of thyroid disease, especially hypothyroidism associated with a possible thyroiditis in many women thus diagnosed.

It is very strange that thyroid hormone is the fifth most prescribed drug in the classification of medications, after the four most common analgesics. Something is happening with thyroid function. Exposure to thyroid endocrine disruptors is a good hypothesis to take into account when dealing with hypothyroidism in a woman between 30 and 50 years old.

what can we do to avoid it

-In the book you give us 80 recommendations, if you had to choose one? Or two?
Get the plastic out of your kitchen now. It’s simple. You do not need any exceptional investment, just recover all the glass, metal and china that you cornered as outdated in a corner of the kitchen cabinet. Using these materials again You will very effectively reduce your exposure and that of your loved ones to bisphenols, phthalates, dimiethicones, PFAS and microplastics among other unwanted compounds.

Vacuum the dust from your house and ventilate. You cannot imagine how you have changed the interior of the domestic environment you inhabit. Now what predominates in the dust in your house is textile fiber, polyester and polyamidewhich traps bisphenols, phthalates, phosphorous and brominated fire retardants, and a host of synthetic musks.

We live in a toxic salad and the combined effect catches us with a body without instructions to know what to do with it…

-What study(s) would you highlight about the body’s ability to get rid of the presence of some toxins in the urine in a few days/weeks if we change our habits?
Some very recent studies show that changing to a diet with organic productsin just seven days, results in a clear decrease in pesticides measured in urine. Likewise, any simple intervention in the selection of cosmetics and personal care products It represents a significant drop in the excreted levels of toxic components.

All this happens because many of The endocrine disruptors we are talking about are easy to eliminatenon-bioaccumulative, so the decrease in “entry” is immediately reflected in a decrease in the levels collected, for example, in urine.

disruptors at home

-What would be the toxicant or toxicants that are most present in a home? Who needs to be focused on as a priority?
Attention is currently focused on the so-called perfluorinated compounds or PFAS, both for its endocrine toxicity and for its enormous persistence. That is, due to the enormous difficulty that the body has in metabolizing them and eliminating them through the usual routes. Due to your persistence are retained in the body, circulating in the blood and maintaining its undesirable effect for longer.

The EU is committed through some of its agencies, such as ECHA (European Chemical Compounds and Mixtures Agency) in remove PFAS from the market. It will not be easy due to its multiple applications in non-stick pans, textiles, cosmetics, fire-fighting foams or as a common contaminant in drinking water. But we’re just getting started.

-This is a topic that goes to extremes, there are those who say that nothing is happening, there is not enough evidence, that it is scary… What is the response of a professor who is a world expert in endocrine disruptors?
First, I would tell you that The evidence on the association between exposure and adverse effect is more than sufficient to act preventively. Biomonitoring studies of human exposure demonstrate this: We all pee on everything. The degradation products (metabolites) of pesticides, plastics or cosmetics They are in the urine of all Europeansbig and small, north and south.

That is to say, Many of the endocrine disruptors have reached our body. And, be careful, for the older ones these exhibitions occupy the second half or last third of our lives… For the youngest, the exhibition accompanies them from the womb. I don’t want to be pessimistic, but the bad thing is yet to come.

Also, you can’t keep playing the game of saying that nothing happens because it does. The growing trend in diseases caused by hormones is dramatic: obesity, diabetes, hypothyroidism, infertility, hormonal cancer. The hypothesis of exposure to endocrine disruptors is valid and founded. Don’t sit idly by. Make a lake to prevent exposure to both compounds and plastics. For the good of your loved ones, especially the youngest ones.

-A curiosity for our readers: in your daily life, what recommendation is difficult for you to put into practice? And the simplest?
The most complicated? Maybe, how to get rid of what has already accumulated. I am referring to the persistent organochlorine, polybrominated, perfluorinated compounds, metals and metalloids that are already accumulated in my body.

I can reduce the exposure taking care of the origin of food, protecting myself at home and choosing consumer goods, but I don’t know how to clean myself effectively.

For the rest, the simplest? Learn to say NO to excess consumption of super-packaged foodsultra-processed, cosmetics and personal care products, textiles, air fresheners and all kinds of “miracle” products. Most of them, derived from oil, have changed the environment in which life develops. It is up to you to say enough!

-Finally, who can this book help?
To everyone who has a home and people to protect.