Our Microbiome & Plastics

Today let’s turn our attention to plastics. The most studied plastic is bisphenol A or BPA as most people know it. This is a major Endocrine Disrupting Chemical which has been proven to be a reproductive toxicant, a neurotoxicant, and an obesogen, because they hinder, mimic or compete with our own natural hormones. I will talk more about this when we get to the Pillar called Environment.

I want to touch on this term you might not be familiar with called obesogen. It simply means that this chemical is a major factor in causing obesity. Go back to that article I talked about yesterday for more information or you can read the quote below from this study. My point here is: some people are trying everything they can to lose weight but are things like plastics keeping us from our healthy goals? This is something to consider that almost no one talks about.

I am point ting to it here because this chemical affects our Microbiome in ways that we might not think about. So what’s a  possible solution? Stop using plastics whenever possible. We have begun to purchase food products sold in glass containers…which are so hard to find these days. But if you can, when you get your plastic packaged products home, switch them to glass. Don’t even microwave anything in or on plastic, even if it says BPA-free, because heat increases the transfer of those plastic chemicals to your foods. As I have been saying, the better choices we make, are better choices we make, and they can help our Microbiome be healthier, which will make us be healthier.

<>< Peace, Diane

The Impact of Environmental Chemicals on the Gut Microbiome

https://academic.oup.com/toxsci/article/176/2/253/5835885

“Furthermore, Methanobrevibacter is shown to heighten the host’s ability to metabolize exogenous fuels, resulting in upregulated host energy intake and weight gain This raises a strong possibility that BPA-induced weight gain is caused at least partially by BPA-induced changes in the gut microbiome.”