Endocrine disruptors are polluting substances such as phthalates, bisphenol, pfas and perchlorates, capable of modifying the functioning of our endocrine system, the complex network of glands and hormones that regulates most of our body’s activities. Despite increasingly stringent laws on the subject, endocrine disruptors are contained in a myriad of everyday products, and their effects on the human organism are not yet fully known. For this reason, everything possible should be done to stay away from them and to protect the little ones from their effects, especially in a critical phase such as the first thousand days of life, during which they can interfere with normal development and statural growth (the increase in height), with effects that can accompany children for the rest of their lives. This was remembered by Sergio Bernasconi, Professor of Paediatrics, former Director of the Pediatric Clinics of the Universities of Modena and Parma, during a recent “Symposium on Systems Medicine” which was held at the Milan state road.
Endocrine disruptors
Endocrine disruptors are common chemicals in industrial products, such as plastics, construction materials, cosmetics, pesticides, food containers, and everyday products. What they have in common is not the chemical formula or the origin, but rather the effect they have on our health: the ability, that is, to interfere with the functioning of the endocrine system, behaving in a similar way to the hormones normally present in our organism, or preventing them. in various ways to carry out their tasks.
According to the American Endocrine Society there are approximately 85 thousand chemical compounds produced by man, and of these a thousand or more could be endocrine disruptors. Among the best known and studied are atrazines (contained in some herbicides), bisphenol A (or Bpa) used in the production of plastics and epoxy resins, dioxins, Pfas and phthalates. Their effects on humans are still being studied, but there is evidence that high exposure can increase the risk of developing reproductive diseases, diabetes and perhaps even some types of cancer.
In children
If for adults the risks, at least in the case of exposure to small quantities of these substances, are relatively contained, in children the situation becomes more critical, because their organism is still in the development phase and the endocrine system is one of the main growth regulators. Exposure to endocrine disruptors could therefore cause various types of pathologies in children and, in particular during the first thousand days of life, interfere with normal physical and neuropsychological development, and create a predisposition to cardiovascular and metabolic diseases which will subsequently manifest themselves from adults.
“We have experimental data available, thanks to which we can say that these endocrine disruptors can alter the GH-IGF-1 system in children,” explained Bernasconi, in reference to one of the main systems that regulate growth in height during life. ‘childhood. “We are also evaluating it from a clinical point of view, in particular in what we know is the most delicate and important moment in the life of a human being, that is, the first thousand days of life. It has in fact been reported that in newborns born before term and of low birth weight, the GH-IGF-1 system is not completely efficient. Furthermore, even in post-natal life there are reports of a relationship between endocrine disruptors and statural growth”.
The risks – underlined the expert during the “Symposium on Systems Medicine” promoted by the pharmaceutical company Guna at the University of Milan – do not derive only from the direct exposure of newborns to endocrine disruptors, but also from maternal behaviors during pregnancy: many of these substances can in fact cross the placenta and come into contact with the fetus, thus starting to have their harmful effects even before birth. Since these substances are practically ubiquitous in industrial products, it is difficult to completely stay away from them. But when it comes to prevention, even a small step can make a difference, and therefore preferring natural materials and products during pregnancy and in the first months of a newborn’s life can probably be advisable.