Female differences to wellness.

At a clinical ecology seminar, Edward Winger, PhD presented two possible models whereby chemical exposure may lead to chronic disease;

1. Test-tube studies have been done with cells which contain genetic material of Epstein-Barr (infectious mononucleosis virus, in which the virus is in the latent or inactive  state. When certain chemicals were introduced into the test tube, viral proliferation took place and the virus was transformed to an active, infectious state. This may represent one of the common causes for persistent viral infections, such as chronic mononucleosis and   chronic hepatic infections, being recognised with   increasing frequency.

2. Basic to the second model to chemical sensitivity is that rapidly dividing of cells of the body are more susceptible to the toxic effects of chemicals than cells that divide more slowly.  The most rapidly dividing systems of the body are the gastrointestinal and the blood-producing (hematopoietic) systems.Our interest concerns the latter and its production of immune bodies, primarily various  types of white blood cells.   The capacity of white blood cells to respond to foreign antigens is impressive with a potential for approximately 100,000 types of responses.  We may assume that this system carries a large part of the burden of protecting   the body from potentially toxic chemicals.  But suppose a certain cellular line assigned the task for protection against a specific chemical is caught in the rapid cellular division, like a soldier being caught out of foxhole during enemy fire.  If there was significant toxic exposure at this time, this cellular line would be destroyed, leaving the individual unprotected against this chemical and possibly others.

The next time you buy tampons, you may want to check the labels of the sanitary pads or tampons that you are going to  buy the next time, and see whether you spot any of the familiar signs stated in in this paragraph.. No wonder so many women in the world suffer from cervical cancer and womb tumors.  Have you heard that tampon makers include asbestos in tampons?

Why would they do this? Because asbestos makes you bleed more, if you bleed more, you’re going to need to use more. Why isn’t this against the law since asbestos is so dangerous? Because the powers that be, in all their wisdom(not), did not consider tampons as being ingested, and therefore wasn’t illegal or considered dangerous.

Tampons contain two things that are potentially harmful: Rayon (for absorbency), and dioxin (a chemical used in bleaching the products). The tampon industry is convinced that we, as women, need bleached white products in order to view the product as pure and clean. The problem here is that the dioxin produced in this bleaching process can lead to very harmful problems for a woman.

Dioxin is potentially carcinogenic (cancer-associated) and is toxic to the immune and reproductive systems. It has also been linked to endometriosis and lower sperm counts for men-for both, it breaks down the immune system.

In  September 1999,  the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported that

there really is no set “acceptable” level of exposure to dioxin given that it is cumulative and slow to disintegrate. The real danger comes from repeated contact (Karen Houppert “Pulling the Plug on the Tampon  Industry”).

Wouldn’t you  say using about 4-5 tampons a day, five days a month, for 38

menstruating years is “repeated contact”, wouldn’t’ you? Rayon contributes to the danger of tampons and dioxin because it is a highly absorbent substance. Therefore, when fibers from the tampons are left  behind in the vagina (as it usually occurs), it creates a breeding ground for the dioxin. It also stays in a lot longer than it would with just cotton tampons. This is also the reason why TSS (toxic shock syndrome) occurs.

Using feminine hygiene products that aren’t bleached and that are all cotton. Other feminine hygiene products (pads/napkins) contain dioxin as  well, but they are not nearly as dangerous since they are not in direct  contact with the vagina. The pads/napkins need to stop being bleached,  but obviously tampons are the most dangerous.

So, what can you do if you can’t give up using tampons? Use tampons, > that are made from 100% cotton, and that are unbleached. Unfortunately,  there are very,  few companies that make these safe tampons. They are  usually only found in health food stores. Countries all over the world (Sweden, German, British Columbia, etc.) have demanded a switch to this safer tampon, while the U.S. has decided to keep us in the dark about it. In 1989, activists in England mounted a campaign against chlorine bleaching. Six weeks and 50,000 letters later, the makers of sanitary products switched to oxygen bleaching (one of the green methods available). (MS magazine, May/June 1995).

Breast implants are now in their fourth decade of use, no regulations for pre-market safety testing having been in place when they were first marketed. Studies which should have been done long ago are only now being done, well after most of the approximately two million women had their implants. Of 1135 published studies in the National Library of Medicine database under the search terms “silicone implants” and “adverse effects”, 387 or only 34% were published between 1966 and 1989, a 24-year interval. 748, or 66% were published in the past 8+ years (1990 to now).

Less well-documented evidence suggestive of a link comes from a growing number of published cases in which women with otherwise irreversible autoimmune diseases such as scleroderma had significant improvement following breast implant removal.

Finally, Canadian plastic surgeon Walter Peters summed up these lines of evidence in the Annals of Plastic Surgery. While admitting there is yet no proven cause-and-effect relationship between breast implants and autoimmune connective tissue disease, he said “there is growing concern that immunological sensitization could potentially develop in certain susceptible patients and that this could contribute to the development of autoimmune connective tissue disease.”

Given what they are being exposed to, women definitely have to be the “stronger” of the sexes.

Be well

Dr Sundardas

There are an increasing number of teenagers suffering from eating disorder, especially females. I continue to be increasingly concerned by this obsession with body shape and weight. Quite often I get these slim young women who come in and tell me, “Doctor, I need to lose weight”. More often than not I have stopped being polite and I tell these women to have a life.

However we could wonder about the factors that influence individuals to refuse to maintain a minimally normal body weight, harbor an intense fear of gaining weight, exhibit significant distortion in the perception of the ideal shape or size of their bodies, as well as feel dissatisfaction with their body shape and size

A brief look at the history of attractive/desirable body types reveals that these trends were always influenced by public perception. The lower classes always looked towards the higher classes for their model of the desirable body types.

Various strategies are sometimes employed to temporarily or permanently alter the shape of a body. The most common included dieting and exercise. At times artificial devices were used or surgery was employed. Breast size could be artificially increased or decreased. Falsies, breast prostheses or padded bras may have been used to increase the apparent size of a woman’s breasts, while minimiser bras may have been used to reduce the apparent size. Breasts could be surgically enlarged using breast implants or reduced by the systematic removal of parts of the breasts.

Historically, the greatest efforts have been made to reduce a woman’s waistline. Boned corsets were used for several centuries, but during the twentieth century these were mostly replaced with more flexible foundation garments. Where corsets are used for waist reduction, it may been for temporary reduction by occasional use or permanent reduction by people who were often referred to as tightlacers. Liposuction is the common current surgical method of reducing the waist size.

Each society develops a general perception of what an ideal female body shape would be like. These ideals are generally reflected in the art produced by or for a society. The ideal or preferred female body size and shape has varied over time and continues to vary between cultures; but a preference for a small waist has remained fairly constant throughout history. A low waist-hip ratio has often been seen as a sign of good health and reproductive potential.

A low waist-hip ratio has also often been regarded as an indicator of attractiveness of a woman, but recent research suggests that attractiveness is more correlated to body mass index than waist-hip ratio, contrary to previous belief. Historically, according to Devendra Singh, there was a trend for slightly larger women in the 17th and 18th centuries, as typified by the paintings of Rubens, but that in general there has been a preference for a slimmer waist in Western culture. She notes that “The finding that the writers describe a small waist as beautiful suggests instead that this body part – a known marker of health and fertility – is a core feature of feminine beauty that transcends ethnic differences and cultures.”

New research suggests that apple shape women have the highest risk of developing heart disease while hourglass shape women have the lowest. The waist-hip ratio (WHR) is a person’s waist measurement divided by the hip measurement. Notwithstanding wide cultural differences in preferences for female build, scientists have discovered that the waist-hip ratio of any build is very strongly correlated to attractiveness across all cultures. Women with a 0.7 WHR (waist circumference that is 70% of the hip circumference) are usually rated as more attractive by men from European cultures. Such diverse beauty icons as Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren, and the Venus de Milo all have ratios around 0.7.

In other cultures, preferences vary, ranging from 0.6 in China, to 0.8 or 0.9 in parts of South America and Africa, and divergent preferences based on ethnicity, rather than nationality, have also been noted. WHR has been found to be a more efficient predictor of mortality in older people than waist circumference or body mass index (BMI). In the early days (18th Century) it was both class consciousness and the works of great artists like Botticelli and Michelangelo influenced public perception.

With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, the growth of the printed media ( ie newspapers, television and the media), the popular perception of what looked good became what was fashionable. So the media has always influenced public perception. However what is happening now is that the divisions that existed between the different cultures and societies is dissolving (ie East and West, Indian and Chinese etc). We are witnessing the melding of different models of desired shapes.

Advertising in teen magazines and on television typically glamorizes skinny models who do not resemble the average woman. In fact, today’s models generally weight 23% less then the average woman. Considering the average person in the United States sees approximately 3,000 ads in magazines, billboards, and television every day, your teenager is getting the wrong message about body image much too often. Media targeting teenage girls are emphasizing the ideal of thinness as beauty. When you stop and think about the fact that the average height and weight for a model is 5’10” and 110 lbs, and the height and weight for the average woman is 5’4″ and 145 lbs, it’s easy to see why this creates a tremendous health risk for young girls.

This leads to starving young skinny women who have difficulty getting pregnant because their BMI is too low for healthy hormonal balance. If they do become pregnant, they often give birth to children who have subtle deficiencies that impact their physical and emotional health. These young women eventually develop osteoporosis in their later years because of their early dieting (See Blog on “Osteoporosis). “Oh what a tangled web we weave”. The media has a lot to answer for.

Be well
Dr Sundardas