Breast cancer, estrogen and hormone disruptors

Reality check: Breast cancer case numbers rise on average by 1% per year – it is the most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide. Many scientists think that this trend is related to the increasing amounts of hormone (endocrine) disruptors people are exposed to daily, in the last decades.

Is it?

Turns out that breast cancer and estrogen are profoundly and intimately linked, which is why breast cancer is largely considered a hormone disease now. And for a good reason, since 80% of breast cancer cases are estrogen receptor positive. This means that tumor cells have estrogen receptors on their surface and grow more when estrogen [or chemicals that behave like estrogen] bind to them. The presence of hormone receptors on tumor cells directs therapy towards depriving the tumor from the hormones it needs to grow, aka hormone therapy. Since the majority of breast cancer cases are hormone receptor positive, the strategy here is to starve the tumor cells.

Conclusion 1: Breast cancer is considered a hormone disease.

Conclusion 2: Estrogen is key to breast cancer.

Estrogen- Real or Fake?

Before we go on, let's clarify a few things about estrogen.

Normally, tiny amounts of real estrogen are produced in the body. It is a fundamental sex hormone after all. But then we have chemicals that act like estrogen in the body and bind to the same places, causing biological effects that normally only real estrogen would. These are called estrogenic substances or pseudoestrogens, all terms describing one thing> chemicals that interfere with real hormones and mess up hormone balance in our body.

This is a major problem, because we are actually flooded by chemicals that behave like estrogen (or other hormones) on a daily basis. We are exposed to these nasties through our cosmetics, personal hygiene products, artificial food ingredients, pesticides and more popular consumer products. In other words, we are chronically exposed to synthetic substances that behave like estrogen in our body.

And this makes us sick.

Even in tiny amounts, daily and chronic exposure of such chemicals, known collectively as
endocrine (or hormone) disruptors, causes gradually significant hormone imbalance, which
shows up as major health issues in ALL age groups. And the rising numbers of breast cancer
is just one of them.

Of course, not all endocrine disruptors behave like estrogen or disrupt estrogen production in the body. There are different classes of hormone disruptors that harm other hormone or body systems, causing equally significant, but different damage.

According to the Endocrine Scientific Society, chronic exposure to hormone disruptors is associated with a variety of hormone conditions (all of which are on the rise in the last decades), from cancers of the breast, testes, ovaries and prostate, to compromised brain development (in children) and metabolic conditions, like diabetes and obesity. Fertility issues are also intimately linked to exposure to endocrine (hormone) disruptors, like non-descending testes, malformations of the penis, and poor semen quality in men and in women poor egg quality, low ovarian reserve (even in very young ages), recurrent pregnancy loss and infertility.

[Please note: some argue that we are only exposed to tiny amounts of hormone disruptors, which cannot possibly be a problem for human health. This is the famous “the dose makes the poison” argument, which does apply to many chemical substances, but NOT to hormone disruptors (or hormones). This is an important discussion, which deserves its own space and time, so you can read more here.

Conclusion 3: Hormone disruptors are chemicals which behave like estrogen in the body and harm hormone balance.

The connection between endocrine disruptors and breast cancer

Many scientists have expressed concerns that the increase in breast cancer we witness in the last 50 years (and rising) is due to constant and increasing exposure to chemicals that behave like hormones, especially estrogen, in our bodies. According to the Endocrine Scientific Society there is a certain connection between hormone disrupting chemicals and cancer, which becomes much clearer when exposure to hormone disruptors happens during sensitive phases, such pregnancy and puberty. These are critical and vulnerable “developmental windows”, when the breast tissue develops or matures, and it is ultra sensitive to external interference. Exposure to hormone-like substances during these early times can cause damage that is highly probable to evolve to breast cancer much later in life.

So far, we have significant evidence regarding the carcinogenic effects of several hormone disrupting chemicals, found in food and a variety of consumer products (i.e. cosmetics, personal hygiene products, cleaning products, furniture, clothes etc.). A variety of commonly used pesticides, flame retardants (PCBs), preservatives (parabens), plasticizers (BPA), synthetic perfume substances (phthalates) and even dioxins (found in some cosmetics) are all well-known hormone disrupting chemicals with many more life-long biological effects except for cancer.

conclusion 4: Scientific research shows that hormone disruptors are linked to breast cancer.

Anti-cancer drugs and estrogen

The majority of anti-cancer drugs aim to prevent estrogen from reaching the tumor. Let’s check some of them

• Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators (SERMs), include the medications tamoxifen (Nolvadex) and toremifene (Fareston). They block estrogen receptors, preventing estrogen from binding to them.
• Selective estrogen receptor degraders (SERDs), include the medications Elacestrant (Orserdu) and fulvestrant (Faslodex). These medications damage estrogen receptors, so that estrogen cannot bind to them.
• Another way to stop estrogen from feeding the tumor is to prevent the body from producing estrogen to start with. This is what a class of medicines called aromatase inhibitors does, it stops estrogen production. These include anastrozole (Arimidex), exemestane (Aromasin), and letrozole (Femara).
• Following the same line of thought, luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonists shut down the ovaries' production of estrogen leading to temporary menopause. These medications include goserelin (Zoladex) and leuprolide (Lupron).

As you can see, the majority of breast cancer drugs focus on estrogen, either its production (which they suppress), or its receptors, which they block or damage to prevent estrogen from binding to them.

Conclusion 5: Hormone breast cancer therapies aim to prevent estrogen from reaching the tumor.

Smarter breast cancer therapies

Here are some thoughts…

What if, except for preventing the body’s estrogen bind to cancer cells, we also prevent environmental chemicals that behave like estrogen in our body from doing the same?

• We know from research that chronic exposure to hormone disrupting chemicals is associated with increased risk for breast cancer. Therefore, exposure to endocrine disruptors seems to be part of the story, perhaps not just assisting breast cancer to show up in the first place, but influencing how the disease progresses too.
• We know that pseudoestrogen binds to the same cell receptors that real estrogen does.
• We also know that minimizing exposure to hormone disruptors with non-toxic personal care products restores normal functions of genes related to breast cancer.

Then why only focus on estrogen produced in our bodies during breast cancer hormone therapy and not ALSO on fake estrogen coming from our lifestyle choices, which is part of the problem too?

Perhaps such an approach would give additional help and hope to breast cancer patients and their families.

Estrogen produced by the body is only one side of the story. The estrogenic substances that behave like estrogen, bind to the same receptors and compete with the body’s own estrogen in a negative way, are also part of the problem, which remains largely unaddressed, despite state-of-the-art drugs and management of the disease.

Conclusion 6: Making different lifestyle choices, in order to reduce exposure to pseudoestrogen, can dramatically lower its levels in the body.

Conclusion 7: Preventing pseudoestrogen from reaching breast cancer cells could be a targeted and useful addition to standard breast cancer therapy.

What happens to breast cancer genes when we lower exposure to endocrine disruptors?

Although there are many factors that work together (genetic, infectious, environmental) for breast cancer to develop in the first place and evolve to the actual disease eventually, scientists insist that diet and lifestyle play a critical role. We are lucky to have fresh scientific proof that reducing endocrine disruptors from a woman’s lifestyle DOES indeed make a massive difference in the way the DNA works.

In this study scientists tested whether switching women to personal care products free of major hormone disruptors (parabens and phthalates) would have any effect on the genes that are commonly dysregulated in breast cancer.

The answer is YES! Breast cancer genes immediately respond when the body’s toxic load is reduced.

Just 28 days of using non-toxic personal care products showed that is enough for genes related to breast cancer, to work normally again. Cell functions normalized.

Note that participants in the study were healthy women, who already had abnormal gene functions, increasing their risk for developing breast cancer later in life significantly. Switching from toxic personal care products to clean products free of hormone disruptors was the determining step to normalize their DNA functions and lower their risk for breast cancer.

POWERFUL

This pioneering study shows 3 important things:

1. Daily use of non-toxic cosmetics and personal hygiene products is a grand step towards long-term health.
2. Daily exposure to hormone disruptors through mainstream cosmetics and personal hygiene products represents a significant toxic load for the body.
3. Absorption of toxins through the skin is a significant exposure route that we need to pay attention to.

Truth is that the body has immense detoxification potential and will quickly catch up if we consistently lower the daily toxic load. And this is what we need to do. Focus on simple, but powerful steps that make a difference.

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