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Plant Based Birth Control Mechanism Uncovered by Pew Biomedical Scholar

New compounds found to prevent conception

ARTICLE

June 22, 2017

Pew Biomedical Scholars

Plant based birth control

Compounds that structurally resemble the naturally occurring compound progesterone (illustrated above), such as lupeol or pristimerin, can prevent fertilization.

People have been searching for effective methods of contraception for centuries. Ancient cultures have thoroughly documented the use of plants with contraceptive properties to prevent pregnancies. However, science has yet to discover how herbal-based medicine can work as a form of birth control.

Pew biomedical scholar Polina Lishko, who holds a doctorate in physiology and biophysics, found that two plant-based compounds—pristimerin (extracted from the thunder god vine, a plant frequently used in Chinese medicine) and lupeol (found in mangoes and aloe)—block a key process that allows the sperm to penetrate the egg. She and her colleagues in the department of molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley published their findings in the May issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

During the fertilization process, sperm cells beat their tails in a side-to-side pattern to travel long distances to the egg. Once they are close, sperm must alter their rhythmic swimming for a final “power kick” in order to break through the egg’s dense protective layer. When the sperm cell is in close proximity to the egg, the hormone progesterone binds to a channel in the membrane of the sperm, allowing a large amount of calcium into its tail, providing the force for the power kick.

Lishko and her colleagues report that because pristimerin and lupeol are compounds that resemble naturally occurring progesterone, they can compete with it to bind the channel—choking off the flux of calcium into the sperm tail. Thus, the switch that boosts the sperm into hyper-drive is blocked, preventing fertilization. Notably, these compounds worked even at low concentrations. They did not pose any harm to the sperm and left them still able to swim.

Unlike emergency contraceptives on the market today, the plant-based compounds could be used to prevent fertilization rather than halting the process after it occurs. Currently, there is little research on targeting this distinct step in the fertilization process. A new form of birth control may be on the horizon—one that can be used by both men and women to prevent pregnancies, with minimal side effects on the body.

Kara Coleman directs The Pew Charitable Trusts’ biomedical programs, including the biomedical scholars, Pew-Stewart Scholars for Cancer Research, and Latin American fellows programs

Everyone has probably heard about the physical benefits of having sex (it helps the immune system, lowers blood pressure, burns calories). But are you aware of the long list of psychological benefits?

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Sex eases stress

It’s well known stress can have serious implications. Stress is largely the result of many interacting psychological factors and can vary significantly between people. Nevertheless, it can cause all kinds of health problems from mild headaches, sleeping difficulties and muscle tension, to more severe issues such as malfunction of the immune system and chronic depression.

There is evidence that being close to your partner (physically and emotionally) can lower stress levels. Physical intimacy can trigger the release of all kinds of chemicals in the brain including:

dopamine - which plays a major role in reward-motivated behaviour, focuses attention and generally increases motivation

endorphins – our body’s natural pain and stress fighters, and

oxytocin – affectionately known as “the cuddle hormone”, which can trigger feelings of compassion.

After an orgasm, the body releases the hormone prolactin, which often leads to drowsiness and a general feeling of relaxation. Comfort ultimately resulting in sleep is a common post-orgasm response.

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Sex boosts self-esteem

There’s an old saying “sex is like food; it’s only a big deal when you’re not getting enough of it”. With sex it’s not so much a matter of “the more the better”, but a complete lack of sex can be quite harmful. There is some evidence a lack of sex is associated with feelings of depression and low self-worth

In today’s world there is a lot of social pressure to be sexually active. Having a nonexistent or minimal sex life can feel socially stigmatising. In this way, having sex can unburden someone from a strong social pressure and enhance their self-estee

All of us have fundamental psychological needs we need to fulfil in order to remain mentally healthy. Having sex isn’t (strictly) a fundamental human need, but it’s an important part of love and connection...... Full article at 

https://theconversation.com/now-for-some-good-news-regular-sex-benefits-your-mental-health-too-71626

Abstract

Introduction: Understanding sexual behavior is important when evaluating the health needs of older adults. Little research has addressed the effect of specific health conditions on sexual inactivity in this growing population.

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Aim: The study aims to assess the association of mental and physical health conditions with sexual inactivity among adults 55 and older living in The Villages, Florida.

Methods: Exposure data for 22 self-reported health conditions were assessed in relation to sexual inactivity in 22,654 participants ages 55 and older, including 1,879 participants over age 80 in a community-based cross-sectional study. Logistic regression analyses were conducted separately for men and women to evaluate the likelihood of being sexually active for each health condition. Covariates included age, race, education, income, self-reported overall health, and marital status.

Main outcome measures: The odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals for sexual activity status were calculated separately for men and women.

Results: Fifty-five percent of men and 45% of women reported being sexually active. Significant positive correlates of sexual activity included walking at least 1-2 times per week, participating in at least two registered clubs, engaging in physical and social activities, no tobacco use, fewer medications, increased alcohol consumption, and reporting a good quality of life, psychological well-being, or social support. Sexual inactivity was significantly related to cancer, bladder/bowl problems, major surgery, poor vision, mental health conditions, and cardiovascular disease and its risk factors including diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol. Additional associations with sexual inactivity included hearing loss and dementia for men, and dermatologic conditions, problems with the joints, bone or back, gastrointestinal problems, alcohol misuse, chronic wound care, and gum disease in women.

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Conclusions: Mental and physical health conditions have very similar associations with sexual inactivity in men and women. Increased sexual activity was associated with positive physical, social, and emotional health indicators.

Keywords: Aging; Epidemiology; Risk Factors; Sexual Behavior.

Indexed for NIH Pubmed by Dragonfly Kingdom Library

© 2013 International Society for Sexual Medicine.

Abstract

Male sexual function is regulated by vascular function and impaired vascular function is closely related with erectile dysfunction (ED). Vascular functions are positively influenced by physical fitness (i.e., aerobic capacity, muscle strength, and flexibility). The detailed associations between physical fitness and male sexual function remain poorly understood. The present study aimed to clarify the influence of physical fitness on male sexual function.

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In 177 adult men, peak oxygen consumption (VO2 peak), handgrip strength (HGS), and sit and reach were measured as indices of physical fitness. Arterial stiffness and erectile function were assessed by carotid–femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) and the International Index of Erectile Function 5 (IIEF5) questionnaire, respectively. IIEF5 score was significantly correlated with VO2 peak (rs = 0.52), HGS (rs = 0.37), and cfPWV (rs = −0.44); and multivariate linear regression analyses showed that VO2 peak, HGS, and cfPWV were significantly associated with IIEF5 score after considering confounders.

The receiver operator characteristic curve analysis suggested that the cutoff values for predicting ED were 29.0 ml/min/kg for VO2 peak and 39.3 kg for HGS. The IIEF5 score was the highest in the subjects with the values of both VO2 peak and HGS were higher than their respective cutoff values, while the IIEF5 score was the lowest in the subjects with the values of both VO2 peak and HGS were lower than their respective cutoff values. These results suggest that the maintenance of high aerobic capacity and muscular strength may offset deterioration of male sexual function.

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Erectile dysfunction (ED), defined as the inability to attain or maintain penile erection that is sufficient for satisfactory sexual performance (Yafi et al., 2016), is a common clinical problem worldwide. The Massachusetts Male Aging Study identified that the prevalence of mild-to-moderate ED is 52% in men aged 40–70 years (Feldman, Goldstein, Hatzichristou, Krane, & McKinlay, 1994), which suggests that ED is widely prevalent among middle-aged and elderly men.

ED has been previously reported to be associated with depressive symptoms (Nelson, Mulhall, & Roth, 2011) and has been observed to affect the quality of life (QOL) negatively (Yafi et al., 2016). In addition, a previous meta-analysis has revealed that men with ED exhibited 48% higher risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) than men without ED (Dong, Zhang, & Qin, 2011). The assessment of male sexual function and prevention of age-related deterioration of male sexual function are necessary for better QOL and for preventing occurrence of CVD in future.

Erectile function is regulated by vascular function and impaired vascular function is closely related with deterioration of male sexual function.......

Indexed for NIH / American Journal of Men's Health by Dragonfly Kingdom Library 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6509982/

Researchers have found that people with narcissistic personality disorder have less gray matter in the left anterior insula, a region of the brain linked to empathy.

Narcissistic personality disorder is a mental disorder in which the sufferers have an inflated sense of their own importance and a lack of empathy. They generally suffer from low self-esteem and feelings of inferiority, but have displays of arrogance and vanity......

full article at https://psychcentral.com/news/2013/07/06/narcissists-lack-of-empathy-tied-to-less-gray-matter#1

CHAPTER I

THE ORIGIN OF MAN

FOR the benefit of those who have not read The Lost Continent of Mu a short synopsis of its contents follows.

The Land of Mu was a large continent situated in the Pacific Ocean between America and Asia, its center lying somewhat south of the equator. Basing its area on the remains which are still above water, it would have been about six thousand miles from east to west, and about three thousand from north to south. All the rocky islands, individually and in groups, scattered over the Pacific Ocean were once part of the continent of Mu.

About twelve thousand years ago cataclysmic earthquakes rent Mu asunder. She became a fiery vortex, and the waters of the Pacific rushed in, making a watery grave for a vast civilization and sixty millions of people.

Easter Island

Tahiti

Samoas

Cook

Tongas

Marshall

Gilbert

Caroline

Marianas

Hawaii

the Marquesas,

...are the pathetic fingers of that great land, standing today as sentinels to a silent grave.

The existence of this great continent is confirmed by:

Naacal tablets, books, writings, inscriptions and legends found in India, China, Burma, Tibet and Cambodia.

Ancient Maya books, inscriptions, symbols and legends found in Yucatan and Central America.

Remains, inscriptions, symbols and legends found among the Pacific Islands.

Stone tablets found in Mexico near Mexico City.

Cliff dwellers' writings and inscriptions found in Western North America.

Books of old Greek philosophers.

Books and writings of the ancient Egyptians.

Legends throughout the world.

These confirmations are all given in The Lost Continent of Mu.

They show that:

There was once a large continent of land in the Pacific Ocean called the Land of Mu.

On this great continent man made his advent on earth about two hundred thousand years ago.

The Land of Mu and the Biblical Garden of Eden were one and the same land.

Both the Naacal and the Mexican tablets show clearly that man is a special creation. They also show in what way he differs from all other creations. An account of the creation is given in both sets of tablets which is very similar to the Biblical account.

At the time of Mu's destruction her people were in an exceedingly high state of civilization; as regards science she was far ahead of the present time. (No wonder! She was at the end of two hundred thousand years of experience and development. -We today cannot claim five hundred.)

The great civilizations of the old Oriental empires - India, Egypt, Babylonia, etc. -were only the dying embers of Mu's great civilization. They were her children, who withered and died without her care.

All tablets, inscriptions and writings which I used in The Lost Continent of Mu are accompanied by keys for reading them. Every assertion made is accompanied by reasonable proof. The facts are there. The theories will have to take care of themselves.

I wish it understood that what is revealed of the past in my writings must not be considered discoveries by me. I am simply stating what I find in writings that run from 12,000 to 70,000 years ago if the mode of keeping time was correct. What is disclosed in these writings is startling, yet archaeology and geological phenomena corroborate the facts without calling to our aid legends which also confirm them.

Lao Tse, the Chinese sage 600 B.C., speaks of the great learning and advancement of his prehistoric forefathers.

The ancients were wise and thoughtful for those who were to come after them. They left indestructible records written on clay and stone. This wisdom is spoken of by Souchis priest of Sais to Solon the Greek, as recorded in Plutarch. These writings have been broken up and many of them lost. As they were universal among the ancients, scraps and fragments of them are found in all quarters of the earth. When put together they supplement one another to a great extent, so that by combining them we can make a beginning towards unraveling the wonders of the earth's First Great Civilization.

For over fifty years I have been hunting these scraps and putting them together so as to form the beginning of an intelligent tale of the Creation and Man.—It rests with those who come after me to complete the tale.

ANCIENT RELICS

Relics that can be traced back as coming directly from Mu, the Motherland, are extremely rare.

During the past few years I have been singularly fortunate in finding two that are at least intimately connected with Mu. Both are symbolic figures in bronze. They were either made in the Motherland or in one of the ancient Uighur cities before the eastern half of that great empire was destroyed by the north running-wave of the last Magnetic Cataclysm which was the Biblical "Flood."

This wave destroyed all the country over which it ran, the people were drowned and the cities washed away or buried under the drift. The Uighur Capital City today lies under fifty feet of boulders, gravel and sand. It is situated in the Gobi Desert, which today has large areas of rock only, the soil and everything with it having been washed away by the "Flood."

I am using one of these relics as Plate I (see halftones between pages 158-9). It is, without question, one of the two oldest bronzes in existence. If Uighur, it is about 18,000 or 20,000 years old. If from Mu, the age cannot be estimated.

This figure is a symbol of Mu as the great ruler. The fineness of the workmanship is not to be found surpassed, and very seldom equaled in any of the prominent jewelry stores in our big cities today. Both symbols have been in America for about 150 years. I know their history, but the less said about it the better, since in the Oriental home from which they were taken, they were without question sacred relics.

The British Museum has three scepters which undoubtedly were manufactured in Mu before she went down.

In Mu,1 the Motherland, there were ten distinct tribes. Although they were physically easily differentiated, there were few variations in language, and these only of a minor character. A greater change is seen in their glyphs or writings.

1 Every letter in every word in the ancient language of Mu is pronounced. Mu is pronounced Moo; A is pronounced ah; U is pronounced oo as in moon; Ta is pronounced tah; Tau is pronounced ta-oo.

In the Motherland each of her people occupied its own territory; and, when various tribes took part in the colonization of a new country, they did not settle down indiscriminately, but each tribe took its own land and built its own cities as their fathers did in Mu.

They settled down adjoining each other and formed a homogeneous whole.

This original form of isolation grew with time so that the tribes eventually became separate peoples, and finally nations. And as the isolation became greater, changes in language crept in.

Contents

The Origin of Man

The Eastern Lines

Ancient North America

Stone Tablets From The Valley of Mexico

South America

Atlantis

Western Europe

The Greeks

Egypt

The Western Lines

India

Southern India

The Great Uighur Empire

Babylonia

Miscellaneous

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https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/atlantida_mu/chilmu/chilmu.htm#Contents

Behavioural pharmacology

Author Manuscript

HHS Public Access

Oxytocin for the treatment of drug and alcohol use disorders

Mary R. Lee and Elise M. Weerts

Additional article information

Abstract

There is growing interest in the use of oxytocin (OT) as a potential treatment for alcohol and other substance use disorders. OT is a neuropeptide that modulates adaptive processes associated with addiction including reward, tolerance, associative learning, memory, and stress responses. OT exerts its effects via interactions with the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis, and multiple neurotransmitter systems including the dopamine mesolimbic reward and corticotrophin-releasing factor stress systems. Oxytocin effects on stress systems are of high interest given the strong link between stress, drug use and relapse, and known dysregulation of HPA-axis activity associated with substance use disorders. At the same time, the oxytocin system is itself altered by acute or chronic drug exposure. This review summarizes the preclinical and clinical literature on the oxytocin system, and its relevance to drug and alcohol addiction. In addition, findings from recent clinical trials conducted in participants with cocaine, cannabis or alcohol use disorder are included and evidence that oxytocin may help to normalize blunted stress responses, and attenuate withdrawal associated hypercortisolism, negative mood and withdrawal symptoms are summarized.

Keywords: Oxytocin, addiction, dependence, substance use disorder, alcoholism, treatment

Introduction

Oxytocin (OT) is a 9 amino acid polypeptide hormone that acts via a specific receptor and is widely distributed in the central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral tissues (Gimpl and Fahrenholz 2001). OT is involved in the regulation and release of adenohypophyseal hormones including prolactin, adrenocorticotropin (ACTH), gonadotropins, and corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF). Initially, OT was thought to be primarily involved in sexual behaviors, female parturition and lactation. Subsequent research has determined that OT is also involved in emotional regulation, pain and stress, and modulates response to rewarding behaviors promoted by food, sex and drugs (Meyer-Lindenberg et al. 2011; Onaka et al. 2012). The co-modulation of both stress and motivational processes is believed to be due to the important role of OT to shift salience to social, affiliative processes, both by increasing the salience itself of rewarding stimuli and/or by reducing stress, allowing for attention to social bonding (Baskerville and Douglas 2010). This is obviously relevant to addiction, where salience of drug stimuli overshadows motivation for social affiliation, and where stress may trigger drug seeking and relapse (Sinha 2008). In the current review, we will focus on the role of the oxytocin system in drug and alcohol addiction and highlight key findings to date on the use of intranasal OT to treat substance use disorders.

Oxytocin and stress

The influence of OT to dampen stress responses is important. Neuroendocrine pathways that modulate the response to stress include three interconnecting circuits, the HPA axis, the adrenomedullary system, and the extra-hypothalamic CRF system. The HPA axis releases CRF from paraventricular neurons within the hypothalamus, stimulating the synthesis and release of adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) by the anterior pituitary, which in turn stimulates the synthesis and release of corticosteroids (CORT) (cortisol in human and nonhuman primates and corticosterone in rodents) via the adrenal cortex. The sympathetic adrenomedullary system, which releases norepinephrine and epinephrine, and CRF expression in the extra-hypothalamic brain regions including limbic regions, are key substrates involved in anxiety and other stress-related behaviors. Stress, defined as any stimulus that disrupts physiological homeostasis, triggers a cascade of adaptive responses involving any or all of these pathways to return the organism to homeostasis.

There is strong evidence from the preclinical literature that stress exposure is an important contributor to relapse. In rats and monkeys, acute stress enhances alcohol preference and reward (Funk et al. 2004), and increased alcohol intake is correlated with stress-induced increases in CORT levels (Fahlke et al. 2000; Fish et al. 2008). In addition, following repeated social stress exposure (e.g., defeat, low social rank, and maternal separation), rats and monkeys subsequently show greater alcohol intake when compared to non-stressed cohorts (Fahlke et al. 2000; Cruz et al. 2008; Fish et al. 2008). Current theories suggest that CORT release induced by stress augments drug reinforcement. Indeed, in rodents, CORT increases drug reward by increasing mesolimbic dopamine transmission (Piazza and Le Moal 1996), rats self-administer CORT itself at levels similar to those elicited by stress, and intracerebroventricular infusions of CORT enhance the reinforcing effects of alcohol (Fahlke et al. 1996).

Studies in laboratory animals have demonstrated that OT has marked anti-stress effects. When administered centrally, OT decreases stress-induced increases in CORT levels (Lang et al. 1983; Windle et al. 1997; Neumann et al. 2000) and reduces stress-induced behaviors in rodent models of anxiety and depression (Arletti and Bertolini 1987; Insel and Winslow 1991; Windle, et al. 1997; Neumann et al. 2000). At the same time, the endogenous OT system appears to be sensitive to stressors. In rats, exposure to acute stress increased OT levels in blood and in hypothalamic and extra-hypothalamic brain regions (Lang et al. 1983; Neumann et al. 1998; Ebner et al. 2000; Ondrejcakova et al. 2010) and increased OT mRNA levels (Jezova et al. 1995). Thus, OT appears to play a protective role in homeostatic regulation of stress responses, and OT administration may attenuate the effects of stress on drinking/drug use and relapse (Uhart and Wand 2009; Koob et al. 2014).

Investigations in human subjects are in line with the preclinical literature. When administered via the intranasal route, OT produces changes in measures of autonomic arousal and mood (MacDonald et al. 2011), increased positive communication during couples’ conflict discussions (Ditzen et al. 2009) and improved recognition and processing of positive facial expressions (Di Simplicio et al. 2009; Marsh et al. 2010; Lischke et al. 2012). The anti-stress effects of OT have been also been investigated using the Trier Social Stress Test, a well-validated laboratory procedure for induction of stress responses in human subjects (Foley and Kirschbaum 2010). This test, which includes components of public speaking component and oral mental arithmetic, produces a robust increase in CORT and self-reported psychological stress and these effects are attenuated by OT (Heinrichs et al. 2003; Quirin et al. 2011; Simeon et al. 2011; de Oliveira et al. 2012; Kubzansky et al. 2012). Consistent with an OT anti-stress hypothesis, a recent study that measured both OT and CORT after the TSST found that salivary OT levels increased immediately following social stress exposure, prior to increases in salivary CORT (Jong et al. 2015). Taken together, these data suggest that OT treatment may be useful to normalize the HPA-axis and reduce stress-related physiological and subjective responses (e.g., anxiety, craving) that increase drug and alcohol use and trigger relapse. ......

Indexed for NIH by Dragonfly Kingdom Library

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5089904/

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Endocrine-disrupting chemicals negatively affect a wide range of systems throughout the human body and have consequences at every life stage, and clinicians should counsel patients to try to reduce their exposure, according to researchers.

In a series paper published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, Linda G. Kahn, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of pediatrics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, and colleagues reviewed additions to the literature since the Endocrine Society published a 2015 review detailing associations between endocrine-disrupting chemicals, or EDCs, and adverse endocrine-related outcomes. New evidence suggests associations between exposure to perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, and child and adult obesity, impaired glucose tolerance, gestational diabetes, reduced birth weight, reduced semen quality, polycystic ovarian syndrome, endometriosis and breast cancer. PFAS are a large and expanding group of manmade compounds widely used to make everyday products more resistant to stains, grease and water, according to the NIH.

“In the past 5 years, numerous additional studies have been published, so we decided it was time to update the Endocrine Society findings and to expand them to include chemicals and health outcomes that they did not cover in their paper,” Kahn told Healio.

Growing evidence

In the article, Kahn and colleagues wrote that there is growing evidence to suggest new adverse health effects of frequently used EDCs with a probability of causation, as well as stronger evidence of harm for many other EDCs previously identified by an expert panel commissioned by WHO and the United Nations Environment Programme.

The researchers identified PFAS in particular, which can be found in items such as nonstick cookware and waterproof clothing, as “chemicals of concern,” noting possible associations with obesity, endometriosis and PCOS, among other outcomes.

New findings suggest that PFAS, bisphenols and certain pesticides may damage semen, Kahn and colleagues wrote. In addition, the review identifies numerous new studies that link brain-related health concerns, such as IQ loss and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, to flame retardants and chemicals found in certain pesticides.

“The expanding evidence for these environmental contributors to non-communicable diseases suggests that synthetic chemicals are ignored or at least underappreciated as a focus of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals,” the researchers wrote. “Decreasing exposure to synthetic chemicals with endocrine-disrupting or other adverse properties is not identified as one of the Sustainable Development Goals, although the [goals] rightly emphasize air pollution and climate change as global priorities.”

The researchers noted that the new exposure-outcome pairings proposed in the paper have not been subject to systematic review methods and other methods to evaluate the strength of evidence and probability of causation, and that more research is needed.

‘Replacement chemicals’ questioned

Kahn said longitudinal studies that collect biosamples in which chemicals can be measured from conception or preconception through adulthood are necessary to understand the interaction between dose and timing on developmental and disease outcomes.

“Also, more studies need to be done on the newer replacement chemicals that are being substituted for chemicals that have been restricted,” Kahn said. “For example, evidence is accumulating that bisphenol S, a regrettable substitute that manufacturers have been using instead of bisphenol A in ‘BPA-free’ products, has some of the same adverse effects on metabolism and reproduction, including increased risk for diabetes and poor semen quality.”

As Healio previously reported, the NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the Endocrine Society held a congressional briefing in November to highlight how PFAS may be associated with a range of adverse outcomes, including obesity, thyroid dysfunction and low bone mineral density. The two groups called on Congress to support efforts for increased research and collaboration between agencies.

For more information:

Linda G. Kahn, PhD, can be reached at the Department of Pediatrics, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York University, 403 E. 34th St., New York, NY 10016; email: linda.kahn@nyulangone.org.

Have you ever perused the cosmetics aisle and noticed that some products say “paraben-free” and “phthalate-free” on their packaging? You know to mentally award these products some bonus points — but do you know what those claims actually mean?

Every day we come in contact with chemicals (including parabens and phthalates) that experts think, over time, could mess with how our body’s hormones function. These are called hormone- or endocrine-disrupting chemicals, or EDCs.

They’re in food packaging, household and personal care products, and even in the air that we breathe.

“They’re essentially everywhere,” says endocrinologist Shirisha Avadhanula, MD. “We’re consuming them, we’re putting them on our bodies, we’re being exposed to them, and most of the time we don’t even know it.”

If you just felt a twinge of anxiety, take heart — this doesn’t mean you need to throw away everything in your cabinets. But Dr. Avadhanula says that becoming aware of EDCs and paying more attention to the products you use is an excellent step to take.

“We should be really looking at the things that we’re buying and being conscious of the potentially disruptive substances that we’re not only putting in our bodies but on our bodies,” she says.

Hormones: The chemical messengers

The intricate endocrine system is made up of many glands throughout your body, including the pituitary gland, ovaries or testes, and thyroid. These glands secrete hormones that enter your circulatory system and bind with receptors in other parts of the body, signaling to your organs and tissues what to do and when to do it.

Hormones help regulate many bodily functions, including:

Growth and development.

Blood sugar control.

Metabolism and energy.

Blood pressure.

Reproductive processes.

Appetite and weight control.

Digestion.

Sleep cycles.

Mood.

Hormones, disrupted

The term endocrine-disrupting chemical refers to a manmade chemical that can interfere with your body’s hormone functioning. There are hundreds of chemicals thought to have hormone-disrupting effects, but Dr. Avadhanula says the most widespread and well-studied ones fall into four categories:

Bisphenols, including bisphenol A (BPA): BPA is found in food and beverage packaging, adhesives and many other consumer products. It can leach into foods and beverages that we consume, or enter the body through the skin. Studies have shown that most people have at least some BPA in their body.

Phthalates: Phthalates are used to make plastics, or as dissolving agents for other materials. They’re found in packaging, medical tubing, detergents, automotive parts, cosmetics and many other products that we touch every day.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs): These chemicals have been banned in the U.S. since the late 1970s but were widely used for decades prior to that in electrical equipment, paints, dyes, plastics and rubber products. They remain in the environment.

Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs) and dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylenes (DDEs): These are also environmental pollutants. DDE is a breakdown product of DDT, which is banned in the U.S. but is still used in other countries as a pesticide.

Some of these chemicals disrupt the endocrine system by mimicking hormones and tricking our bodies. Others block hormones from doing their job.

“EDCs can disrupt a hormone’s pathway at any point — from its secretion from the gland, or its transport through the circulatory system, or its binding to a receptor,” Dr. Avadhanula explains. “You can imagine that exposure to these chemicals would cause disarray in your body.”

Because of the various ways they can work, they are thought to contribute to an array of health problems over time.

Studies have linked high levels of BPA, for example, with heart problems and a greater risk of hormone-related cancers, among other things. Exposure to phthalates has been associated with decreased sperm quality in adult men. PCBs are thought to be especially dangerous to the health and development of babies in the womb.

“There’s also a suggestion that exposure to EDCs can potentially play a role in the development of obesity and type 2 diabetes,” Dr. Avadhanula adds.

But studying the effects of these chemicals in humans is challenging for scientists. Much of experts’ current understanding is based on animal research or studies of trends in large populations.

“It’s very difficult to measure some of these chemicals in humans, and there aren’t biochemical tests for many of them,” Dr. Avadhanula explains. Plus, we’re exposed to many of these chemicals at once, so it’s hard to isolate their effects. It’s also likely that those effects develop over long periods of time.

We need more studies to better understand the risk to humans, she says.

What you can do

While scientists work to better understand how EDCs work, Dr. Avadhanula says the best thing concerned consumers can do is make more informed choices.

Here are some tips for minimizing your exposure:

Consider choosing products with BPA- and phthalate-free packaging.

Drink tap water that has been filtered.

Avoid microwaving plastics.

Avoid personal care products that list “fragrance” as an ingredient, as phthalates often hide in fragrances.

Choose products labeled “phthalate-free,” “paraben-free” or “BPA-free.”

Avoid unnecessary exposure to industrial chemicals and pesticides.

“We can’t underestimate the power of the single consumer,” Dr. Avadhanula says. “I’m happy that, as a society, we’re becoming a lot more cognizant of what we’re consuming, what we’re exposing our bodies to and the effects of our environment on our bodies.”

Indexed for Cleveland Clinic

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-are-hormone-disrupting-chemicals/

Yoga Practice for Reducing the Male Obesity and Weight Related Psychological Difficulties-A Randomized Controlled Trial

P.B. Rshikesan,corresponding author1 Pailoor Subramanya,2 and Ram Nidhi3

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Abstract

Introduction

Obesity is a health disorder and increasing all over the world. It is also a cause for many non-communicable diseases. Yoga practice reduces the stress level which may improve the eating habits and help in weight reduction.

Aim

To assess the final outcome of the effects after 3 months of the 14 weeks yoga training on obesity of adult male in an urban setting.

Materials and Methods

This was a randomized controlled trial with parallel groups (Yoga and Control groups) on male obese. Total 80 subjects with Body Mass Index (BMI) between 25 to 35 kg/cm2 were enrolled and randomized into two equal groups in which 72 subjects (yoga n = 37 and control n=35) completed the trial. Yoga group mean age ± SD was 40.03±8.74 and Control group mean age±SD was 42.20±12.06. A 14 weeks special IAYT (Integrated Approach of Yoga Therapy) yoga training was given to the Yoga group and no specific activity was given to Control group. The interim results of this study at 14 weeks were covered in another article which is under process. After the 14 weeks of yoga training the Yoga group was asked to continue the yoga practice for the next 3 months and the Control group was not given any physical activity. The final outcome is covered in this paper.

The assessments were anthropometric parameters of body weight (Wt), BMI (Body Mass Index), MAC (Mid-upper Arm Circumferences of left and right arm), WC (Waist Circumference), HC (Hip Circumference), WHR (Waist Hip Ratio), SKF (Skin Fold Thickness) of biceps, triceps, sub scapular, suprailiac and cumulative skin fold thickness value), Percentage body fat based on SKF and Psychological questionnaires of PSS (Perceived Stress Scale) and AAQW (Acceptance and Action Questionnaire for Weight related difficulty). Assessments were taken after 3 months of yoga training, for both Yoga and Control groups. Within group, between group and correlation analyses were carried out using SPSS 21.

Results

Improvement in anthropometric and psychological parameters such as Wt, Percentage body fat, PSS were observed in the final outcome. Also, some of the improvements such as AAQW score were lost in the final outcome, compared to interim results.

Conclusion

The yoga practice is effective for obesity control for adult male in an urban setting.

Keywords: Body mass index, Overweight, Perceived stress scale, Skin fold thickness, Waist circumference

Introduction

Obesity is a condition of excessive fat accumulation and is a major risk factor for a number of chronic diseases. It is a health disorder and is growing in high income countries, as well as in low and middle income countries [1–3]. This health problem is increasing in cities like Mumbai in India and the causes are urbanization and life style changes, among other factors [4–6]. The previous studies showed that among the Asian Indians, the prevalence of obesity is high in male populations [7,8].

BMI (Body Mass Index) is considered as a measure of obesity. It was observed that for Asian Indians, BMI cut-off points are to be considered much lesser than the WHO standards for categorizing the obesity [9–12]. In our study, subjects with BMI of 25kg/m2 or above were considered as obese.

In general, obesity is caused by an unbalance in the energy intake and energy expenditure [13]. The causes of obesity are not fully understood but it is a multi factorial disorder. The present options for controlling obesity are inadequate and have adverse effects [14–17]. Yoga is an ancient therapeutic practice based on Patanjali yoga sutras [18–20]. The Integrated Approach of Yoga Therapy (IAYT) consists of yogic practices based on ancient yoga texts and addresses the mind and body in a holistic way. The earlier studies showed that Yoga practice is useful for stress reduction, awareness on satiety, awareness on over eating and weight reduction [21]. The long term effect of yoga after imparting the training is required to be assessed. The aim of this study was to assess the final outcome after 3 months, of obesity parameters, after giving 14 weeks of IAYT training, for adult male, in an urban setting.

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Materials and Methods

Participants

The study was a parallel group study with Yoga and Control groups. After training 14 weeks the Yoga group continued practice of yoga, for the next 3 months. The Control group was not given any specific physical activity.

The participants were from north east part of Mumbai. Advertisement was done and total 80 subjects were enrolled based on inclusion criteria. After randomization with minimization of co-factors, 40 subjects were assigned in each group. The IAYT training was given to Yoga group for 14 weeks and assessments outcome were reported in an earlier paper [22]. Further the study was continued and the final results were taken and the outcome is presented in this paper.

The trial profile is shown in [Table/Fig-1]. Open source software, titled MinmPy, was used for randomization with minimization of co factors [23]. In the inclusion criteria, BMI was from 23 to 35 kg/m2, and age was from 18 to 60 years. All the participants were male. The subjects who had any surgery during previous six months were excluded. Each participant was given an alpha numeric code to remove all personal identities.

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....... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5198375/