In today’s interview I get to speak with PhD biochemist & author of the bestselling book Estrogeneration, Dr Anthony Jay.
We talk about estrogen and chemicals called estrogenics which cause high levels of this hormone leading to various health problems.
We get a chance to talk about the prevalence of estrogenics in our surroundings, what some of the biggest sources of artificial estrogen are, and, what we can do to avoid them.
If you know someone who is interested in learning more about:
- What are artificial vs natural eostrogen sources
- How estrogenics negatively impact on our health
- How to reduce exposure to these bad artificial eostrogen chemicals in everyday life
Then this interview is for them.
I enjoyed this interview and after speaking with Anthony, I have a better understanding of the numerous places these chemicals are hiding in.
While I was aware of some of them, there is a great many sources I haven’t considered.
Anthony also gave us some great tips we can easily implement into our everyday lives to help combat this problem.
Special thanks to Anthony for joining me on the show.
Enjoy the episode!
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Show Notes with Timestamp Links
Find summarised highlights of what we talk about during the interview.
Use the clickable timestamp links to jump direct to those points in the audio file below:
[00:19] – Introducing Dr Anthony Jay, biochemist with a PhD from Boston University School of Medicine and author of the bestselling book: Estrogeneration: How Estrogenics Are Making You Fat, Sick, and Infertile. He has a distinguished record of accomplishments in HIV, Alzheimer’s disease and cardiovascular research fields.
[01:06] – Estrogen is a sex hormone with enormous systemic impact on our body. A significant point to note is that most cells in the body have estrogen receptors; once bound to these receptors estrogen can enter the nucleus of the cell and act on the DNA of the cell.
[02:30] – Anthony explains that the estrogen hormone is found naturally in both men and women. However, estrogenics are artificial estrogens, which are chemicals that act like natural estrogen. Estrogenics disrupt natural physiological processes. Normal estrogen levels for men are at around 20 pg/ml and women between 20-400 pg/ml, depending on the time of the month. However, estrogenics have been found to have levels of 1000’s ng/dL
[04:29] – Anthony became passionate about studying estrogen after learning about the presence of estrogen in the US water supply and the link between high levels of estrogen and many common health problems. In Europe, Atrazine, an estrogenic chemical and one of the most commonly used herbicides in North America, is outlawed.
[06:33] – A lot of common health problems such as infertility, depression, breast cancer (up 250% since 1980) and unexplained weight gain link back to these artificial estrogen chemicals.
[07:46] – The water supply in the US is regulated on a federal level. Anthony explains how the use of BPA is often restricted in certain states and BPS or BPF are used as alternatives. However, this doesn’t address the issue as they are almost identical to BPA and are at least as estrogenic. Plastic no.7 and phthalates are also estrogenic and problematic in terms of health.
[10:29] – In pregnancy, natural estrogen goes up and the body stores more fat. Anthony explains how artificial estrogen hijacks that process in a similar way throwing the immune system out of balance, causing fat gain and other health problems.
[12:46] – The greatest source of artificial estrogen for most people is the water supply; Atrazine from fertilizers and birth control (even in Europe) contribute to this problem. A great tip for removing both natural and artificial estrogen, testosterone and other lipophilic hormones from your drinking water is to filter it using an activated charcoal filter.
[14:58] – We discuss a somewhat difficult topic; the feminisation of males. Anthony explains how some of the effects we are seeing is a change in brain activation and motivation in men.
[17:33] – Brain fog as well as a lack of motivation and focus could be some of the symptoms to watch out for with high levels of artificial estrogen exposure. To help combat this, filtering our water is a must. We should also try to avoid the red no.40 (E129) food colouring which is potentially estrogenic.
[18:57] – Anthony explains that the difficulty with estrogen exposure is that the health problems do not show up immediately, they take years to manifest and most studies don’t take this into account.
[19:35] – In his book, Esterogeneration, Anthony shares a top ten list of estrogenics we are exposed to. One example of these are the phytoestrogens found in plants; mainly soy and flax but lavender essential oils are also potentially problematic if used every day.
[25:09] – Except on the rare occasion, we should avoid plastic water bottles and use alternatives such as stainless steel or glass due to plastic leaching. The amount of leaching is influenced by the substance in the bottle, heat and duration. (Tip: Because more leaching goes into oil than water, Anthony recommends seeking out MCT oils that come in glass bottles.)
[29:49] – Are there any safe plastics? The number on plastics indicates the type of plastic it is. Safer plastics to use have the numbers 2, 4 or 5. While no.1 is very common and often touted as safe, Anthony explains why this is not the case.
[32:45] – Other common products that can be loaded with estrogenics are cosmetics such as soaps, lotions, sunscreens and fragrances. Problematic ingredients include parabens, phthalates, and fragrances: the fragrance label is often used to hide undesirable ingredients. We discuss using zinc as a sunscreen alternative and Anthony suggests visiting his website ajconsultingcompany.com/whatiuse for other affordable recommendations of products without estrogenic chemicals.
[35:48] – Some other environmental factors that increase our exposure include laundry detergents and the off-gassing from car dashboards – hence that new car smell. Anthony shares a theory as to why he believes most people are attracted to that artificial estrogen smell.
[38:40] – How do we know if we have an issue with estrogen? Currently there are no commercial tests available for estrogen, so instead we need to test for testosterone as a surrogate marker. If testosterone levels are extremely low, it is indicative of a problem. (Biohackers Lab Tip: Listen to Dr Benjamin Bikman similarly suggest using ketones as a surrogate marker for insulin.)
[40:49] – The esterogenic chemicals have been shown to change the age of onset of puberty, lowering the age range. Anthony explains how instead of addressing the problem directly it has been suggested that we lower the official range of onset instead.
[41:51] – How long do we need to wait before retesting testosterone after we’ve taken measures to reduce our exposure? Usually it will be somewhere between 30-90 days depending on a variety of factors. (Tip: Exercise, saunas and infrared heat can expedite the process and increase excretion of a ton of estrogen chemicals, phthalates, BPA etc…)
[44:48] – Anthony explains the estrogenic paradox where estrogen is stored in your fat cells but also tells your cells to store more fat. There are also genetic variables that indicate whether you can process estrogen through liver enzymes. Those who can’t process them have even greater health problems and take longer to flush estrogenic chemicals out of their system.
[47:11] – What is mould estrogen? While most of us are aware of mycotoxins, we might not be aware that one of the major mycotoxins is “mycoestrogen” which exposes us to mould estrogen called ZEA. This type of mould is usually found on grains and, because it has become so prevalent, they have increased allowable limits. Anthony explains how rules are more stringent in Europe than they are in US.
[49:16] – Recently, carnivore diets such as the one Dr Shawn Baker is a proponent of have gained in popularity. But do we need to be concerned about grain fed meat? Anthony explains why he went from not worrying about this to changing his mind completely and switching to grass-fed, healthy, free-range meat, after he researched feedlot cows which are fed with corn sprayed with atrazine etc. (Tip: Anthony recommends buying grass-fed meat in bulk to save money.)
[53:55] – For more information visit Anthony’s YouTube channel where he talks about common health issues or his consulting company webpage: AJ Consulting Company where he shares information about DNA consulting, compilation of videos and information on his book Esterogeneration. He is also happy to receive e-mails from people with legitimate questions.
