Scientists expose body toxin risks - will affect 2 generations' fertility

[Holly_Hobby]

SAN FRANCISCO — Your ability to reproduce — and the health of your child and even your child's children — hinges on an exquisitely timed series of chemical reactions controlled by infinitesimally tiny amounts of hormones.

You scramble those reactions at your peril, in other words, and last week hundreds of researchers gathered at the University of California, San Francisco, warned society may be doing exactly that with synthetic chemicals.

The chemicals, known as endocrine disruptors, are found everywhere in our environment: food, lotions, shampoos, baby bottles, toys, appliances, even casings for medicines. They mimic hormones at levels scientists only recently have been able to measure, and some are active at concentrations of a part-per-trillion or less — a speck of dirt sullying 55 tons of clean laundry.

Most worrisome to scientists: In many cases, the effect of such pollution on our bodies remains as unknown and mysterious as the processes they potentially disrupt.

...

http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_5156161

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. Oxidation and what to do about it.

1: J Med Food. 2006 Fall;9(3):440-2.Click here to read Links
Improvement in human semen quality after oral supplementation of vitamin C.

* Akmal M,
* Qadri JQ,
* Al-Waili NS,
* Thangal S,
* Haq A,
* Saloom KY.

Dubai Specialized Medical Center & Research Labs, Dubai.

This study was carried out to monitor the effect of oral supplementation of vitamin C on various semen parameters in oligospermic, infertile, otherwise healthy individuals. Various semen parameters, including sperm motility, sperm count, and sperm morphology, were studied before and after the vitamin C treatment. A total of 13 infertile patients were included. Their ages ranged between 25 and 35 years. They had no genital infection or varicocele. Physical examination and other routine laboratory investigations were normal. General semen analysis revealed oligozoospermia (mean sperm count was 14.3 +/- 7.38 x 10(6) sperms/mL, mean sperm with normal morphology was 43 +/- 7.87%, and mean sperm motility was 31.2 +/- 9.61%). Testicular biopsy was not done. These patients received in an open trial of 1,000 mg of vitamin C twice daily for a maximum of 2 months. Results showed that the mean sperm count was increased to 32.8 +/- 10.3 x 10(6) sperms/mL (P < .001) after 2 months of vitamin C intake. The mean sperm motility was increased significantly to 60.1 +/- 8.47% (P < .001), and mean sperms with normal morphology increased significantly to 66.7 +/- 4.77% (P < .001). This study showed that vitamin C supplementation in infertile men might improve sperm count, sperm motility, and sperm morphology and might have a place as an additional supplement to improve the semen quality towards conception.

PMID: 17004914



1: Biofactors. 2005;25(1-4):165-74.Click here to read Links
An update of Coenzyme Q10 implications in male infertility: biochemical and therapeutic aspects.

* Mancini A,
* De Marinis L,
* Littarru GP,
* Balercia G.

Operative Unit of Endocrinology, Catholic University School of Medicine, Rome, Italy. [e-mail]

This review is focused upon the role of coenzyme Q(10) in male infertility in the light of a broader issue of oxidative damage and antioxidant defence in sperm cells and seminal plasma. Reactive oxygen species play a key pathogenetic role in male infertility besides having a well-recognized physiological function. The deep involvement of coenzyme Q(10) in mitochondrial bioenergetics and its antioxidant properties are at the basis of its role in seminal fluid. Following the early studies addressing its presence in sperm cells and seminal plasma, the relative distribution of the quinone between these two compartments was studied in infertile men, with special attention to varicocele. The reduction state of CoQ(10) in seminal fluid was also investigated. After the first in vitro experiments CoQ(10) was administered to a group of idiopathic asthenozoospermic infertile patients. Seminal analysis showed a significant increase of CoQ(10) both in seminal plasma and in sperm cells, together with an improvement in sperm motility. The increased concentration of CoQ(10) in seminal plasma and sperm cells, the improvement of semen kinetic features after treatment, and the evidence of a direct correlation between CoQ(10) concentrations and sperm motility strongly support a cause/effect relationship. From a general point of view, a deeper knowledge of these molecular mechanisms could lead to a new insight into the so-called unexplained infertility.

PMID: 16873942

[Holly_Hobby]

2. Interesting....n/t

[KT2000]

13. You do know that

endocrine disruption is not the same as oxidation, right?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

15. I sure do, and I also know that most if not all people who experience

many many health issues have excess oxidation as a component of their condition. Oxidative stress is how many "diseases" destroy a person's health. The complications of diabetes for example do not generally set in until a persons antioxidant reserve has been used up.

[KT2000]

19. That's true

I just wish more people would understand what is going on with endocrine disruption.

PS You post some really good research on DU - thanks.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

24. Thank you. If half of what is capable with high end supplements

was put into practice, our healthcare costs could be reduced enough to make Congress's collective heads spin.

[Mabus]

3. intergenerational endocrine disruptors are prevalent in our water supply

thanks to herbicides and pesticides. About ten years ago I did some work and ran across information about EDs. Some of the stuff is heavy and around these parts they were testing water in February, before the agricultural run-offs from melting snow, and reporting acceptable levels. Moreover, they were only testing the surface portion of the water, not the middle or bottom portions where some of the heavier components end-up. It is also seeping into groundwater aquifers which in turn are being used by people and animals for drinking water and for watering crops. Basically, we're getting hit with it from all sides.

[mzmolly]

5. And prozac, birth control pills are getting into the water supply as well.

Not good. Male "fishies" are carrying eggs in the Mississippi River due to these issues.

[originalpckelly]

4. So why are people still cranking out about 4 million new babies each year?

:shrug:

If this stuff has such a large impact on the reproductive cycle, why exactly are so many children being given birth to, every year?

[mzmolly]

6. I'm wondering why male fish are carrying eggs in the Mississippi River?

:scared:

[TZ]

21. have the same thing going on with fish here in the Potomac

as well. They do think it has to do with hormones in the water.

[mzmolly]

23. Sheesh, that's gotta have an impact on the population.

Minneapolis gets it's drinking water from the Mississippi.

[Spider Jerusalem]

8. Europe has negative population growth.

And so would the US, if not for immigration making up the shortfall. Fertility rates in developed countries are below replacement levels.

Edit to add: A good deal of this is due to the effects of affluence on reproductive patterns, but not ALL of it may be.

[nashville_brook]

7. Children of Men....... n/t

[TheModernTerrorist]

9. that was what I thought of

sometimes I feel like we're fucked for the most part. I'm starting to live with it. :shrug:

[myrna minx]

20. The Human Project is up and running.

:scared:

[nashville_brook]

22. Quietude... you decide when.

[populistdriven]

10. The EPA was ordered to spend 20 million studying ED's at end of Clinton's 2nd term...

crickets chirping.........

www.coxwashington.com/news/content/reporters/stories/2006/10/18/DISRUPTERS15.html
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
WASHINGTON — Ten years after Congress ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to develop tests to see if pesticides are disrupting human hormone functions, the agency has not tested a single chemical under the program.

http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/admin/publication_files/resource-1844-2004.26.pdf
"So little is known about endocrine disruption that EPA estimates 87,000 chemicals already in commercial use need testing to determine if they affect the endocrine system."

[siligut]

11. Hope this continues to get attention.

I have been saying this for years. I attribute all sorts of diseases to organophosphates. If you want to get a close up of what these toxins do, look at soldiers exposed to sarin gas.

More and more women are falling victim to polycystic ovarian syndrome, the combination of estrogen dominance and exogenous estrogen like toxins in our food and water is causing infertility and insulin resistance.

Estrogen driven breast cancer is also occurring more, but no one in the medical field wants to talk about it, if you are lucky they might recommend you go organic and stop heating food in plastic containers.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

14. Don't forget chlorine and fluorine, which we are all exposed to routinely

In fluoridated water, toothpaste and Clorox.

[KT2000]

12. Yard chemicals

are full of endocrine disrupting chemicals. One person can decide for the entire neighborhood that generations to come will be screwed up.
Ask them to stop and they can get pretty belligerent about it.

[Mabus]

16. No kidding

We've got young kids and pets in the neighborhood. I've told them that the neighborhood pets, including their own, are tracking harmful chemicals into everyone's home. They told me to "shut the fuck up" and said I was jealous of their beautiful lawn. They don't get it. They don't want to understand that one of the reasons their daughter has so many medical problems (allergies, asthma, etc) is partly due to their own actions.

[The2ndWheel]

17. Awwwww, poor us

We're the ones who want to control nature, even down to the DNA. Nothing comes for free.

Chalk another one up for unintended consequences.

Obviously, now we have to fix this problem. We'll come up with something that messes with the body of even more people, in a more complex way, and than we'll be reading about the problems that those solutions caused. No matter what we were to do we'd have problems, but as long as we can, we'll make them bigger and more complex.

[Coventina]

18. I'm at the point where I just don't care anymore

I mean, if we go extinct - great!
At least, it would be if we didn't take a bunch of other species with us when we go. That's what truly troubles me.

If we just happened to disappear, the earth would be a lot better off.

[Trillo]

25. Nature and Gaia working to rid herself

of the infestation destroying her.

It makes me wonder about the evolutionary value of the neo-cortex.