Pregnant women should stop using standard hair and beauty products—the chemicals in them could interfere with maternal hormone levels.
Chemicals such as phthalates, parabens and phenols found in many beauty products can trigger miscarriage or affect the healthy development of the fetus. They can also have an impact on the child’s health after birth and could even increase the risk of some cancers.
Hair products such as dyes, bleach and mousse seemed to have the biggest impact on sex steroid hormones, researchers from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences discovered. They analysed blood samples from 1,070 pregnant women in Puerto Rico, where use of beauty products is high.
They had reviewed chemicals in beauty products such as fragrances, lotions, cosmetics, nail polish, mouthwashes, and shampoo. Many included endocrine-disrupting chemicals which interfere with the hormone systems that are especially vulnerable during pregnancy.
“Alterations in hormone levels, especially during pregnancy, can have vast consequences beyond health at birth including changes in infant and child growth, pubertal trajectories and may influence development of hormone-sensitive cancers such as breast, uterine and ovarian,” said researcher Zorimar Rivera-Nunez.
(Source: Environmental Research, 2021; 112376; doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.112376)
What do you think? Start a conversation over on the... WDDTY Community
