 There are many classes of endocrine-disrupting industrial pollutants. Concerned about the alkylphenols, first surfaced decades ago, when a group of tufts observed an excessive proliferation of human breast cancer cells in certain types of plastic containers, something you'd normally only see if the cells were exposed to some type of estrogen. They identified an alkylphenol as the culprit leaching from the plastic, causing the estrogen-like properties when tested in the human breast tumor cells. That's not good, so countries in Europe started banning and restricting uses of these chemicals, but the US EPA has been slow to respond. A half million tons of these chemicals continue to be spewed out into the environment every year. So much so now that they just come down in the rain and then accumulate up the food chain. I talked about the seasonal allergy epidemic in Japan. Where in the Japanese food supply can you find these potentially allergy-exacerbating endocrine disruptors? Predominantly chicken, and especially fish. Water animals and birds concentrate these compounds to levels several thousands of times greater than those in the environment because these are fat-soluble chemicals. Therefore, they can easily contaminate foods of animal origin, which are thought to represent the most important source of human exposure to many organic pollutants, not just the alkylphenols. This group also found fish was the worst. Which type of fish? Anchovies and mackerel were the worst in this study, and salmon and cod in this study. In fact, salmon was the only food found contaminated with nonophonol diethyl oxalate, which is even more potent than regular nonophonol. And levels of contamination in fish were just the kind of concentrations that start to make breast cancer cells go crazy in vitro. These findings are consistent with the fact that seafood consumption has been associated with severe asthma, current and severe rhino conjunctivitis, which is like seasonal pollen allergies, and current and severe eczema, an allergic type disease of the skin, in adolescent populations around the globe. If these synthetic xenoestrogens are playing a role, what about natural phytoestrogens, like in soy foods? Turns out that in patients with asthma, consumption of a diet with moderate to high levels of soy phytoestrogens is associated with better lung function and better asthma control. So, if anything, it's more these chemical pollutants, which come down the rain, contaminate the plants, the soil, but then concentrate up the food chain in the fat of animals. And we're now like the ecosystem's peak predator, like the polar bear or bald eagle. Thankfully, there aren't many cannibals around anymore, though there is one group that continues to feed off human tissues. Alkal phenols have been found to concentrate in human breast milk, particularly in women who eat fish. The highest levels of these endocrine disrupting pollutants were recorded in milk samples from mothers who said they ate fish at least twice a week, consistent with the fact that seafood consumption represents an important source of alkal phenol intake. And even these slightly elevated levels of endocrine disruptors in the milk of mothers with a seafood-rich diet may be associated with adverse effects on neurological development, fetal and postnatal growth, and memory functions in breast-fed infants, because these contaminants may interfere with the endocrine or hormonal system. Or even worse, straight animal fat, such as chicken fat, lard, and tallow, which were considered cooking oils here, or fish oil. Consumption of fish oil capsules and processed fish products was associated with alkal phenol concentration in mothers' milk. Again, thanks to bioaccumulation up the food chain. And then, of course, we recycle the leftover remains of farm animals into farm animal feed, and so the levels can get higher and higher in animal food products. As one commentator responded, yes, these pollutants contaminate human milk, but they contaminate cow's milk as well. We live in the same polluted world. In fact, infant formula was found to be over five times more contaminated, so breast is still best, absolutely. But these kinds of studies are important in order to provide good suggestions for food choices to nursing mothers to prevent excess exposure to these pollutants in their infants. We can kind of cut out the middle fish and move lower down the food chain in hopes of decreasing our exposure to industrial toxins.