Blog
BPA Protection: Spinach and Soy
Dr. Alan Greene
Monday, February 22, 2010
To me, this is very exciting.
When parents learn about the possible dangers from chemical estrogens in the environment, such as those found in some plastics, pesticides, and personal care products, one of the first questions I’m asked is, “What to do if your child was already exposed?”
BPA, one of these chemical estrogens, is found in hard plastics, in the linings of many food cans, and in many cash register receipts. And it doesn’t stay there. It gets into our bodies when we eat or drink something that has been stored or especially heated in one of these containers. It could get into our bodies when we handle receipts, then eat without washing our hands.
The CDC estimates that right now BPA is in the bodies of 93 percent of Americans, with higher levels in teens than in adults, and higher levels in children than in teens.
In animal studies, exposure to even trace amounts early in life has been linked to health problems including obesity, early puberty, and breast and prostate cancer.
Researchers at Duke University have shown that this early exposure affects the offspring’s epigenetics: it turns on and off different genes, resulting in the problems that we see.
Here’s the exciting part: They found that they could completely block BPA damage, even in the face of significant exposure, by giving pregnant animals extra folate (found mostly in green leafy vegetables – foliage – such as spinach) or extra genistein (found mostly in legumes such as soy). The amount of genistein given was comparable to what we would get in our diets if we ate soy foods regularly.
These nutrients switched the genes back the way they should be, and the BPA effect was completely nullified. The researchers describe this as compelling evidence that certain nutrients can counteract BPA when given during pregnancy.
Beyond this, the researchers propose that these nutrients could block the effects of chemical estrogen exposures, even if given later in childhood and possibly even in adulthood.
This research is still preliminary, but it makes sense to me.
Before this study, I already recommended including some green leafy veggies and whole soy foods in your family’s diet. This study suggests these may nourish and protect your child in more ways than we expected. Of course I do not recommend knowingly ingesting BPA or other potentially harmful chemicals, but eating a healthy diet that includes green leafy vegetables and soy is a great idea for the times you or your children are unknowingly exposed.
Alan Greene, MD, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine, Attending Pediatrician at Packard Children's Hospital, and Senior Fellow at the University California San Francisco Center for the Health Professions. He is also founder of DrGreene.com, and author of Raising Baby Green and Feeding Baby Green.
Calafat, A.M., Kuklenyik, Z., Reidy, J.A., Caudill, S.P., Ekong, J., and Needham L.L. “Urinary Concentrations of Bisphenol A and 4-Nonylphenol in a Human Reference Population. Environmental Health Perspectives, Apr 2005, 113:391-395.
Dolinoy, D.C., Huang, D., and Jirtle, R.L. “Maternal Nutrient Supplementation Counteracts Bisphenol-A-Induced DNA Hypomethylation in Early Development.” PNAS, 7 Aug 2007, 104(32):13056-13061.
The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and not necessarily those of Healthy Child Healthy World.
Image Courtesy of Laurel Fan / CC BY-SA 2.0
Posted by Bart Bush on 06/27/2010 at 10:13 AM
Like the question asks, back in the day before the chemical age were there still lots of men who couldn’t grow facial hair?
I’m asking this because I see so many guys with baby faces with no facial hair and I’m curious if this has to do with the higher level of estrogen like phthalates.
And for curiousity sake, is it possible to have high levels of testosterone and still have no facial hair at all?
Posted by Danika Carter on 05/27/2010 at 12:47 PM
I came here to ask the same thing about soy. I think I’ll still avoid that until it can be proven safe…and right now more and more evidence says it’s not. I’ll stick to the greens. In fact, my family and I have just started having green smoothies every day as a way to get more raw greens & fruits into our diet, so here’s another added benefit!
Posted by Shivani on 03/05/2010 at 06:39 PM
This article is great - it’s nice to know something positive we can do, something proactive, with our families. I plan to tell every pregnant girl I know about this, this is great news! I think it’s fantastic that more and more products are coming out BPA free nowadays, and that it’s being required in some industries.
Posted by Mandy S. on 03/05/2010 at 06:04 PM
Yes, soy is a “fake estrogen” as well…this doesn’t make any sense to me - not to mention, soy is usually highly processed and, as Erica already mentioned, in EVERYTHING! This seems suspect to me…anyone know who funded the study?
Posted by Tracy on 03/04/2010 at 06:01 PM
Why on earth is there BPA in cash register receipts?
Posted by Erica on 03/04/2010 at 12:30 PM
Yes, UNfermented soy is BAD, although if you have ED or EOS (estrogen dominace or estrogen overload symdrome) already, soy, whether in good or bad forms, is not healthy to my understanding. It is disgusting that they allow soy in nearly EVERYTHING!!
What I would like to know, so you can potentially eat spinach when pregnant, but what do you do about BPA exposure AFTER your child is born?!?!? THAT is a huge issue..
Posted by kristi on 02/28/2010 at 05:38 PM
Doesn’t soy act as estrogen in our system as well? Posing the same risks?
More comments:
Posted by Danika Carter on 06/28/2010 at 03:30 PM
I just returned from the LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) conference in Boulder. Dr. Greene was a speaker there. He didn’t respond to this article directly, but he did mention that in addition to having estrogens, soy also has anti-estrogens, so maybe that’s the reason he feels it’s ok?