Teen Study shows 45% drop in hormone-disrupting chemicals in just 3 days of using all natural personal care items!

Natural News readers are well aware of the toxic products being sold to the uniformed public and hopefully are doing a good job avoiding them for their own personal care products.  This new study conducted on 100 Teens at UC Berkeley may help us convince others to pay attention.

The results, published today in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, came from a study of 100 Latina teenagers participating in the Health and Environmental Research on Makeup of Salinas Adolescents (HERMOSA) study.

Researchers provided teen study participants with personal care products labeled free of chemicals such as phthalates, parabens, triclosan and oxybenzone. Such chemicals are widely used in personal care products, including cosmetics, fragrance, hair products, soaps and sunscreens, and have been shown in animal studies to interfere with the body’s endocrine system.

Teen girls use more personal care products than adult woman and need to be especially aware of the hormone-disrupting chemicals in the products they use.

Chemical presence decreased by as much as 45 percent

Analysis of urine samples before and after a three-day trial in which the participants used the lower- chemical products found significant drops in levels of these chemicals in the body. Metabolites of diethyl phthalate, commonly used in fragrances, decreased 27 percent by the end of the trial period. Methyl and propyl parabens, used as preservatives in cosmetics, dropped 44 and 45 percent respectively. Both triclosan, found in antibacterial soaps and some brands of toothpaste, and benzophenone-3 (BP-3), found in some sunscreens under the name oxybenzone, fell 36 percent.

This study helped involve local high school students to help raise their awareness, learn more about the scientific method and encourage them to be more concerned about the environment and it’s impact on their own health.

The teen study shows 45% drop in chemicals was carried out by CHAMACOS Youth Council and included 12 local high school students who helped design and carry out the study. One teen researcher, Salinas native and study co-author Maritza Cárdenas, is now a UC Berkeley undergraduate majoring in molecular and cell biology.

“One of the goals of our study was to create awareness among the participants of the chemicals found in everyday products, to help make people more conscious about what they’re using,” said Cárdenas. “Seeing the drop in chemical levels after just three days shows that simple actions can be taken, such as choosing products with fewer chemicals, and make a difference.”

Part of this study was funded by the California Breast Cancer Research Program of the University of California.