Consumption of pesticides treated fruits and vegetables linked with reduced fertility in women

Regular dietary consumption of fruits and vegetables treated with pesticides is linked to lower probability of live births and success rates of ARTs according to a study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health published October 30, 2017 in JAMA.

Animal exposure to pesticides at environmentally relevant concentrations is known to decrease the number of live births. Whether this holds good for humans is topic for research in recent years, the effects of high dose exposure causing reproductive injuries is already known.

More than 600 different pesticides chemicals, resulting into 1000s of combinations are available in US market with more than 450 kg applied every year.

Occupational exposure to high dose of some older pesticides are known to cause reproductive injury in exposed males causing infertility and azoospermia.

This prospective epidemiological study uses sophisticated biological markers to identify the effects of subclinical everyday exposure pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables on female fertility.

The study recruited 325 women undergoing infertility treatment as part of the Environment and Reproductive Health (EARTH) study. The women filled out study questionnaire about the daily consumption of fruits and vegetables. Women’s exposure to pesticides was calculated based on US government database of average pesticide residues on fresh fruits and vegetables.

The study found that women who ate more than two servings (2.3) of high-pesticide fruits or vegetables each day, compared with women who ate an average of one each day, were 18% less likely to become pregnant and 26% less likely to have a live birth than women with the lowest exposure.

If you can exchange one high-pesticide fruit or vegetable a day for a low-pesticide one, your odds of pregnancy are increased by 79% and live birth by 88% say the researchers.

Strawberries, spinach and peppers, tend to consistently make into the list of ‘dirty dozen’, a list of 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables, while others, like peas and avocados, rank lower.

Jorge Chavarro, associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard Chan School and senior author of the study, said that women trying to conceive may want to limit their intake of high-pesticide fruits and vegetables or eat organic versions, or choose low-pesticide produce such as avocados, onions, or oranges. “I am now more willing to buy organic apples than I was a few months ago,” he told TIME.

When the researchers modeled the effect of swapping one high-pesticide fruit or vegetable a day for a low-pesticide one, they found 79% higher odds of pregnancy and 88% higher odds of a live birth.

Dr. Yu-Han Chiu, a research fellow in the department of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and first author of the study told CNN "Although we did find that intake of high-pesticide-residue fruits and vegetables were associated to lower reproductive success, intake of low-pesticide-residue fruits and vegetables had the opposite association."

The researchers agree that the study just show an ‘association’ and more work is needed before a direct ‘causation’ can be established. Also, the results pertain to certain subset of women who already had reproductive issues and were seeking fertility treatment.

The study is accompanied by a commentary by Philip J. Landrigan titled

Pesticides and Human Reproduction

Which fruits you should buy organic

It's not always possible or affordable to buy completely organic produce. Nutritionist Lisa Drayer shows us which fruits to look for in the organic section.

Source: CNN

Follow on Facebook and Twitter.

The New Puberty

The New Puberty

The Book" The new puberty"

This article is based on TEDMED talk 2015 in Palm Springs, California by Pediatric endocrinologist Louise Greenspan and her groundbreaking book, -“The New Puberty: How To Navigate Early Development in Today’s Girls”, along with coauthor Julianna Deardorff, a Berkeley professor of Maternal and Child Health and adolescent psychologist.

Just a generation ago, fewer than 5 percent of girls started puberty before the age of 8, today girls are entering puberty at increasingly younger ages with 10% of girls now showing the first signs of puberty before age 8.

Early puberty can lead to eating disorders, depression, substance abuse, early sexual activity and, later in life, breast cancer.

According to Dr. Greenspan, two important culprits responsible are obesity and family stress.

"We used to say that breast development and pubic hair should not start before age 8. What we know now is that 15% of girls at age 7 are showing breast development," Dr Greenspan reported.

According to Biro.F.M  et al in Pediatrics 2013;132:1019-1027 Girls from racial and ethnic groups with the highest rates of obesity are most at risk for early puberty. In that study, black girls showed breast budding at an average age of 8.75 years, Hispanic girls at an average age of 9.25 years, and white and Asian girls at an average age of 9.75 years.

Higher BMI was the strongest predictor of earlier age at breast stage 2 in this study

The relationship between higher BMI and earlier onset of puberty in girls has been noted previously; in 2 large cross-sectional studies, Pediatric Research in Office Settings (PROS) and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III, earlier maturation occurred in those girls with greater BMI and in those with BMI ≥85th percentile.

Body fat makes estrogens, which are the same kind of hormone that are normally released from the ovaries during puberty. When there is more body fat, there are higher levels of estrogen, which leads to breast budding.

In USA the rate of obesity in children aged 6 to 11 years of age increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 18% in 2012, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

And during the same period, the rate of adolescents 12 to 19 years of age who were obese increased from 5% to nearly 21%.

The trend is not just seen in the U.S., it's seen in multiple countries, probably more so countries closer to the equator than countries in the northern latitudes. But major factor is likely to be, certainly in the developing countries, a switch from a more traditional diet to a more Western diet, which results in greater, perhaps better nutrition or perhaps over-nutrition, and that's certainly a factor.

Stress is the second important factor in causing early puberty; other risk factors are early sexual abuse and toxic levels of family arguments and neighborhood violence.

Dr Greenspan says that “Most notably, a girl who grows up without her biological father is twice as likely to get her period before age 12 as a girl who lives with her biological father.”

She does not refute the endocrine-disrupting chemicals commonly found in plastics and pesticides for early puberty, but it is almost impossible to eliminate endocrine-disrupting chemicals from our environment, and there is no single smoking gun, she explained.

These chemicals can mimic hormones in the body, and some mimic hormones that are important regulators of puberty, particularly estrogen. However, more research is needed on humans.

She noted that "a much more effective public health intervention would be to try to tame the obesity epidemic and put some greater social infrastructure in place to buffer children from the stresses of poverty."

The authors offer highly practical strategies that can help prevent and manage early puberty including limiting exposure to certain ingredients in personal care and household products, which foods to eat and which to avoid, and ways to improve a child’s sleep routine to promote healthy biology.

Moreover, the authors—both mothers of young girls—offer parents, teachers, coaches, and caretakers guidance to initiate and continue the conversation about puberty in an age-appropriate way to support girls as they navigate this complex stage of their lives.

References:

http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2015-05-06/whats-behind-early-puberty-in-girls

http://www.jpagonline.org/article/S1083-3188%2812%2900092-7/abstract?cc=y

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/132/6/1019.long

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/05/opinion/what-causes-girls-to-enter-puberty-early.html?_r=0

Rosenfield RL, Lipton RB, Drum ML. Thelarche, Pubarche, and Menarche Attainment in Children With Normal and Elevated Body Mass Index. PEDIATRICS 2009;123(1): 84–88

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/132/6/1019.long#xref-ref-4-1