Teen Girls' Body Burden of Hormone-Altering Cosmetics Chemicals

Adolescent exposures to cosmetic chemicals of concern

By Rebecca Sutton, Ph.D., Staff Scientist, September 2008

The 20 teens we tested had an average of 13 hormone-altering cosmetics chemicals in their bodies.

Laboratory tests reveal adolescent girls across America are contaminated with chemicals commonly used in cosmetics and body care products. Environmental Working Group (EWG) detected 16 chemicals from 4 chemical families - phthalates, triclosan, parabens, and musks - in blood and urine samples from 20 teen girls aged 14-19. Studies link these chemicals to potential health effects including cancer and hormone disruption. These tests feature first-ever exposure data for parabens in teens, and indicate that young women are widely exposed to this common class of cosmetic preservatives, with 2 parabens, methylparaben and propylparaben, detected in every single girl tested.

In Alex (Washington DC): 12 hormone-altering cosmetics chemicals. "It's frightening to learn about the many different kinds of toxic chemicals that can be found in my body. At the same time I would much rather be knowledgeable about my body's chemical makeup than uninformed; in this case, ignorance is NOT bliss."

This work represents the first focused look at teen exposures to chemicals of concern in cosmetics, exposures that occur during a period of accelerated development. Adolescence encompasses maturation of the reproductive, immune, blood, and adrenal hormone systems, rapid bone growth associated with the adolescent "growth spurt," shifts in metabolism, and key changes to brain structure and function. Alterations in an array of sex hormones, present in the body at levels as low as one part per billion (ppb), or even one part per trillion (ppt), guide this transformation to adulthood. Emerging research suggests that teens may be particularly sensitive to exposures to trace levels of hormone-disrupting chemicals like the ones targeted in this study, given the cascade of closely interrelated hormonal signals orchestrating the transformation from childhood to adulthood.

STUDY TEENS USE MORE PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS DAILY THAN AN AVERAGE ADULT WOMAN

Source: EWG product use surveys.

During this window of vulnerability to toxic assault, adolescent girls typically experiment with an increasing number and variety of body care products. Teen study participants used an average of nearly 17 personal care products each day, while the average adult woman uses just 12 products daily. Thus, teens may unknowingly expose themselves to higher levels of cosmetic ingredients linked to potential health effects at a time when their bodies are more susceptible to chemical damage.

Cosmetics and other personal care products are an alarming example of government and industry failures to protect public health. Federal health statutes do not require companies to test products or ingredients for safety before they are sold. As a result, nearly all personal care products contain ingredients that have not been assessed for safety by any accountable agency, and that are not required to meet standards of safety. To protect the health of teens and all Americans, we recommend action:

• The federal government must set comprehensive safety standards for cosmetics and other personal care products.
• Teens should make healthy choices for themselves by reducing the number of products they use, and by using our Shopper’s Guide to Safe Cosmetics to select safer products.
• Companies must reformulate products to protect consumers from exposure to potentially toxic chemicals, untested ingredients, and noxious impurities.

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What Do The Kids At YOUR Cheer Gym Drink?

Gatorade erodes teeth faster than Coke, a new study shows.

That doesn’t mean that Gatorade and other sports drinks are necessarily harder on your teeth than are Coke and other soft drinks. But it may be a surprise that they aren’t any better, either, says researcher Leslie A. Ehlen, a student at the University of Iowa School of Dentistry.

“I don’t think everybody realizes how erosive these things are, especially Gatorade and Red Bull,” Ehlen tells WebMD. “People need to be aware that all sorts of beverages can be causing dental erosion.”

Ehlen presented the study at this week’s annual meeting of the American Association for Dental Research in Orlando, Fla.

More and more dentists now think sugary drinks are the major culprit in tooth decay, says Brian Burt, PhD, professor emeritus of epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

“There is pretty good evidence now that this is not just sports drinks, but soft drinks and juices in general,” Burt tells WebMD. “They have become the main source of sugars in the diet. It comes down to the more sugar in the drink, the more risk of [cavities] to the person drinking it.”

1 Day of Soft Drinks, Lots of Erosion

The University of Iowa researchers covered extracted teeth with nail polish. They left bare two patches on each tooth, one on the enamel and one on the root. Then they dunked the teeth in test tubes filled with regular Coke, Diet Coke,Gatorade, Red Bull, or 100% apple juice.

Every five hours, the researchers refreshed the beverages. After 25 hours, they examined the teeth with a microscope. All of the beverages eroded the bare spots on the teeth. But different beverages had significantly different effects.

On the enamel, Gatorade was significantly more corrosive than Red Bull and Coke. Red Bull and Coke, in turn, were significantly more corrosive than Diet Coke and apple juice.

On the roots of the teeth, Gatorade was more corrosive than Red Bull. Coke, apple juice, and Diet Coke followed in that order.

The difference in the effect isn’t simply due to their sugar content. Gatorade is 6% carbohydrates, mostly sugars. Coke is about 10% sugar. Both are acidic beverages.

University of Michigan pediatric dental researcher Michael Ignelzi, DDS, PhD, has recently reviewed new research on the effects of beverages on children’s teeth. But he says there’s no evidence showing thatsports drinks are any worse than other soft drinks.

“I know of no data that sports drinks are more harmful than other drinks,” Ignelzi tells WebMD.

Sports Drinks and Cavities

Because of their acidity and sugar content, researchers have studied the role of sports drinks in the development of cavities. Most of the studies, however, exonerate the sports drinks.

Craig Horswill, PhD, senior research fellow at the Gatorade Sports Science Institute, in 2005 reported a study of saliva flow in endurance athletes who drank Gatorade, diluted orange juice, a homemade sports drink, or water. The study showed that if the sports drinks had any effect, it was to decrease dehydration and increase saliva flow, which reduces cavity formation.

More to the point, a 2002 Ohio State University study of 304 athletes found no link between sports-drink use and dental erosion. The study was sponsored by Quaker Oats, which makesGatorade.

“Dental erosion among users of sports drinks in the Ohio State study was the same as it was in nonusers,” Horswill tells WebMD. “And they averaged 10 years of sports drink use.”

Ignelzi says that what matters most isn’t which beverage people drink. It’s how and when they drink it.

“A lot of things can cause [cavities], including sugared drinks. It is the way they are taken that is most important,” he says. “The frequency of exposure is key. If you sip a Pepsi all day, that is very harmful. But if you are taking any sweet or carb — cheese puffs, bread, raisins — if you take it during meals, it is a good thing. Because the saliva stimulated by your chewing buffers the acid. But if you are constantly snacking on sweets or sipping a sweet beverage, your teeth are exposed to acid all day long.”

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Teen Fitness - The Fight Against Childhood Obesity

Anyone who has been a parent, or a kid for that matter, knows that the life of a teenager is often a state of confusion loosely controlled by peers, trends and a seed of good taste. Mom’s once-revered advice starts to have the tinny resonance of an old cassette tape. On one hand we long to see them come into their own; while the other hand clutches those apron strings so tightly you’d think it would take the Jaws of Life to pull them apart. Most teens make it through unscathed and for others the piercings heal over, the tats fade and life becomes the long happy journey it’s intended to be. Today that scenario is changing as teenage obesity rates climb sky-high and the scientific community grows increasingly concerned that unhealthy teen habits create irreversible damage leading to premature death. “Childhood obesity not only has health consequences for children, but increases the risk for death in adulthood,” said Dr. Frank B. Hu, an associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Hu was the lead researcher in a study that examined the highly-regarded Nurses’ Health Study data relating to 102,400 women aged 24 to 44. The women had provided answers to a number of questions including their weight at age 18. Researchers followed up 12 years later and found that the heavier a woman was at age 18, the greater her chances of death from heart disease, cancer, suicide and other causes. The obesity epidemic in the U.S. is not isolated to teens. We are the fattest nation on the planet. As life got easier, and food became cheaper and more processed, we’ve all scrambled to find ways to maintain our health. We are all still learning and seeking answers for a world that is so new, even the scientists can’t predict its long-range repercussions. Why didn’t someone tell us ten years ago that saving those margarine tubs for microwaving wasn’t smart? For that matter, why didn’t they tell us light butter might be a better alternative? About the only thing for certain is that the American lifestyle is killing us. Scientists choose their words very carefully, and epidemic is not a word to be taken lightly—think Bubonic Plague or the Spanish Influenza Epidemic, both of which claimed millions of lives. Obesity is a serious problem in the U.S. as evidenced by organizations and legislation that is struggling to contain it. That containment requires increasing exercise opportunities including stress relieving exercise, and decreasing consumption of processed foods that store themselves quickly and easily as fat. One-third of U.S. children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are overweight or obese. Obesity in children is a risk factor for high blood pressure, increased levels of cholesterol, chronic inflammation, type 2 diabetes, breast cancer, asthma and premature death.1 All this pales against the fact that obese and overweight children are the brunt of cruel teasing in school, often leading to low self-esteem and other psychological problems. The spotlight on teen obesity lit up in 2000, when the excitement of the new millennium had statisticians working overtime at measuring how times had changed. One of the millions of statistics to come out was the fact that child obesity rates doubled since 1980, and tripled in the case of teenage obesity. Type 2 diabetes, once considered so rare in young people that it was called “adult onset” diabetes, was suddenly being seen in adolescents. The condition, now also referred to as an epidemic, can result in amputations, kidney problems, blindness and death. The good news is that reversing the teen obesity epidemic is a top priority in America. Identifying Solutions Last November former President Clinton said about the teenage obesity epidemic: “We need to do something about it for our children and for our country, because something like this could easily collapse our nation if we don’t act now.” That statement was made at CNN’s first Fit Nation Summit. Fit Nation Express is an ongoing, multi-platform initiative against obesity lead by CNN’s chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. In its third year, Dr. Gupta’s Fit Nation Express will once again travel around the country rallying more Americans to take charge of their weight by exercising more and eating healthier. Selected destinations include Denver, San Diego and Chicago this year. Dr. Mehmet Oz, now a household name with his ongoing appearances on the Oprah Winfrey show and bestselling books, has founded HealthCorps® in a bold move to impact the lives of U.S. teens. Recruiting medical graduate students and other young people interested in careers in medicine and nutrition, HealthCorps® brings their class to America’s classrooms. Funded through private donations there is no cost to the school, and the young educators present in and afterschool seminars on diet, nutrition and exercise. In the same engaging way Dr. Oz and partner Dr. Michael Roizen present important health information to millions of Americans, the HealthCorps’ young staff—some not much older than the students they teach—use a variety of methods to bring their message home. Students may engage in an exercise class, take an actual trip to the grocery store, or even touch and hold human organs to see and feel the difference between healthy and sick. “By giving students, parents and community members the necessary tools to surround themselves with healthy options” says Dr. Oz, “HealthCorps® is working today for a healthy America tomorrow.” Taking Aim at Soda “Parents and health officials need to recognize soft drinks for what they are—liquid candy—and do everything they can to return those beverages to their former role as occasional treat,” says the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a U.S. consumer group. In fact, CSPI has recently petitioned the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) calling for cigarette-style warnings on soft drinks to caution people of their potential health risks. They are far from alone in their campaign. Changing the tide of teen obesity requires a combination of programs to encourage exercise, education about nutrition and disease prevention, and state legislation to provide mandatory exercise and healthy food fare in our nation’s schools. The Alliance for a Healthier Generation—a joint initiative of the William J. Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association—reached an historic agreement with representatives of the world’s largest soft drink bottlers in 2006. Under the deal, elementary schools will only sell water, juices with no added sweeteners, and low-fat or fat-free regular and flavored milk. The drinks will be sold in 8-ounce containers. Middle schools will offer the same choices, but in 10-ounce servings. High schools will only sell 12-ounce beverages of about 100 calories and in addition to the drinks offered to elementary and middle school kids, high schools will also offer no-calorie or low-calorie drinks like teas, diet sodas, sports drinks and flavored waters. According to the latest statistics released by the American Beverage Association (ABA), shipments of full calorie soft drinks to schools were 45% lower during the 2006-2007 school year than they were in 2004.4 Shipments of water increased by 23% that same period. The agreement states that the industry will strive to fully implement these guidelines prior to the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year, providing schools and school districts are willing to amend existing contracts. The program is estimated to affect 35 million students across the country. The ABA report sounds positive on the surface, but the noted 41% reduction in calories shipped into schools may not translate to a measurable decrease in weight gained. Part of the problem lies in the nation’s new love affair, particularly amongst teenagers, with energy drinks. Energy Drinks: Teen’s New Sodas A calorie-conscious market began clamoring for soft drink alternatives at the start of this decade. The genre’s all-star, Gatorade, was reborn in dozens of colors and flavors, and was soon taken over by dozens of new brands. On the heels of this burgeoning market for sports drinks came the energy drink. In 2006, just as the Alliance was signing their groundbreaking agreement, America went energy drink wild. According to market researcher Information Resources Inc., energy drinks outperformed all other categories of beverages that year. Sales topped $5 billion in 2007 and insiders project it to exceed $10 billion in the U.S. market alone. Some of these drinks pass the Alliance guidelines for calories, but insinuate a new problem for parents by adding other non-calorie, and sometimes dangerous, ingredients. Other popular energy drinks are loaded with waist-widening High Fructose Corn Syrups (HFCS) and while they may not make it to school vending machines, they reach campus in backpacks. Energy drinks are the new Starbucks: the must-have beverage for the younger generation. Last year, several teens in Colorado Springs sought medical attention after drinking SPIKE Shooter, as did another student at Smoky Hill High School in Aurora, CO. The 8.4-ounce can has more than three times the caffeine of a cup of coffee, plus several herbal stimulants. Their label now recommends that individuals under 18 and the elderly should not imbibe; however, there is no regulation to stop kids from buying it. Even though the label recommends “newbie’s” to start with one-half can and not to exceed one can per day, many teens take such warnings as a challenge. Several Colorado high schools have warned students and parents of the dangers, with one Denver school actually banning the drink on campus and persuading a nearby 7-Eleven store to remove it from their shelves. A month later the scene repeated itself in Florida where four teenagers from Falcon Cove Middle School in Weston were taken to a hospital emergency room after ingesting Redline. That incident prompted talk from Broward County School Board members about a possible ban. These and other similar stories prompted a group to form called Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood which is lobbying the FDA, along with groups like the CSPI and the American Medical Association, to force food manufacturers to list the amount of caffeine on product labels. The ABA has issued voluntary guidelines asking for caffeine label information separate from the ingredients statement, but as the case with SPIKE Shooter, compliance usually occurs only when a manufacturer’s forced by public outcry. A new energy drink aimed at teens With energy drinks rocking the beverage industry, an Arizona based liquid nutritional supplement company called Vemma wanted to bring a competitive, but much healthier alternative to the market. The end result was Verve. Verve uses a super-antioxidant formula as a base, has 80 mg of natural caffeine equal to about one cup of coffee, natural sugars equivalent to about an apple and a half, light carbonation, the flavor from carefully selected fruits, and hip packaging. “High fructose corn syrup is a cheap way to sweeten drinks,” explains BK Boreyko, the founder of Vemma and the father of three young boys. “When I look at all the kids consuming all those calories – sodas, sport drinks – and I think of those poor little pancreases working overtime to process the junk, it just breaks my heart.” Take Action! To avoid consuming high fructose corn syrup and other potentially unhealthy ingredients, it is vital that youth learn to review the nutrition information on packaged foods. In the summer of 2007, the FDA launched a campaign called “Spot the Block”, to encourage this very behavior. The campaign targets youth ages 9 to 13 and their parents. The campaigns aims to inspire youth to seek out the Nutrition Facts on the food label, understand the information it provides, and use it for making healthful choices related to their own dietary management. As a parent, you can inspire your child to do this by urging them to look for, read, and think about the Nutrition Facts information on food packaging. You can also use mealtime and grocery shopping as a means to teach kids to read labels together and discuss healthy eating habits.

Teen Fitness Protects Against Breast Cancer Later In Life

Teen Exercise Protects Against Breast Cancer Later In Life By Lauran Neergaard AP Medical Writer

New research shows exercise during the teen years - starting as young as age 12 - can help protect girls from breast cancer when they are grown. Middle-aged women have long been advised to get active to lower their risk of breast cancer after menopause. What is new: That starting so young pays off, too. “This really points to the benefit of sustained physical activity from adolescence through the adult years, to get the maximum benefit,” said Dr. Graham Colditz of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the study's lead author. Researchers tracked nearly 65,000 nurses ages 24 to 42 who enrolled in a major U.S. health study. They answered detailed questionnaires about their physical activity dating back to age 12. Within six years of enrolling, 550 were diagnosed with breast cancer before menopause. A quarter of all breast cancer is diagnosed at these younger ages, when it's typically more aggressive. Women who were physically active as teens and young adults were 23 percent less likely to develop premenopausal breast cancer than women who grew up sedentary, researchers report Wednesday in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The biggest impact was regular exercise from ages 12 to 22. “This is not the extreme athlete,” Colditz cautioned. The women at lowest risk reported doing 3 hours and 15 minutes of running or other vigorous activity a week or, for the less athletic, 13 hours a week of walking. Typically, the teens reported more strenuous exercise while during adulthood, walking was most common. Why would it help? A big point of exercise in middle age and beyond is to keep off the pounds. After menopause, fat tissue is a chief source of estrogen. In youth, however, the theory is that physical activity itself lowers estrogen levels. Studies of teen athletes show that very intense exercise can delay onset of menstrual cycles and cause irregular periods. The moderate exercise reported in this study was nowhere near enough for those big changes. But it probably was enough to cause slight yet still helpful hormone changes, said Dr. Alpa Patel, a cancer prevention specialist at the American Cancer Society, who praised the new research. And while the study examined only premenopausal breast cancer, “it's certainly likely and possible” that the protection from youthful exercise will last long enough to affect more common postmenopausal breast cancer, too, Colditz added. “If you were a bookworm as a teen, it is not too late.” Patel said. Other research on the middle-age benefits of exercise shows mom should join her daughter for that bike ride or game of tennis or at least a daily walk around the block. Many breast cancer risks a woman can't change: How early she starts menstruating, how late menopause hits, family history of the disease. Even though the exercise benefit is modest, physical activity and body weight are risk factors that women can control, Patel stressed. “I'd say you and your daughter should get off the couch,” she said. “Women who engage in physical activity not only during adolescence but during adulthood lower their risk.”

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Watchdog bans Vitamin Water Advertisement - Misleading

Watchdog Bans Vitamin Water Advertisements

October 7, 2009 12:11 am

Publicity for vitamin-enriched water made by Coca-Cola fell flat with the advertising watchdog for "misleading" claims about its nutritional benefits.

Watchdog bans vitamin water advertisements.

Posters and a leaflet for Vitamin Water featured slogans such as "more muscles than brussels" and "keep perky when you're feeling murky".

An advert for the "power-c" drink said: "Popeye had it easy. A can of spinach and he bulked up ... the nutrients in this bottle won't enable you to walk on mud, or become a strapping sailor man, but they will help you beat your granny in an arm wrestle."

Another read: "If you've had to use sick days because you've actually been sick, then you're seriously missing out my friend. The trick is to stay perky and use sick days to just, erm, not go in."

Complaints were made about the implications that the drinks were equivalent to vegetables and had health benefits such as raised energy levels and resistance to illness.

Two people also said that the adverts implied that the drinks were "healthy", even though they contained 4.6 g of sugar per 100ml.

Coca-Cola insisted the advertising was "humorous and irreverent" and the reference to "brussels" referred to the nickname for action film star Jean Claude Van Damme aka "the Muscles from Brussels", not sprouts.

The reference to staying "perky" meant mood rather than fighting illness, and consumers would not think that arm-wrestling their granny would need more energy.

But the Advertising Standards Authority upheld the objections.

The ASA also found that the drinks contained nearly a quarter of the recommended daily amount of sugar in 500ml but the publicity made it likely that consumers would think the products were "healthy". The adverts must not be used again.