Can Overtraining Lead to Mineral Depletion

Dana Green Remedios, Registered Holistic Nutritionist, former personal trainer, former Health Club Manager

• Strenous Exercise itself can deplete certain nutrients, or rather, use them up quickly.

These include the antioxidant vitamins - Vitamins A, C and E (plus glutathione, anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins, polyphenols...)

Oh yes, about the process...basically, for the last 2 decades, we have believed something like this

"It has been postulated that the generation of oxygen free radicals is  increased during exercise as a result of increases in mitochondrial  oxygen consumption and electron transport flux, inducing lipid  peroxidation. The literature suggests that dietary antioxidants are able  to detoxify the peroxides produced during exercise, which could  otherwise result in lipid peroxidation, and that they are capable of  scavenging peroxyl radicals and therefore may prevent muscle damage." Sports Med. 1996 Mar;21(3):213-38.

This has resulted in an idea that too much exercise is 'aging' at the cellular level, in that there is a lot of oxidative stress placed on cells. Antioxidants are thought to reduce oxidative stress. However, that doesn't mean that you should necessarily run out and supplement with astaxanthin or another powerful antioxidant...Because in the last few years it has been discovered that antioxidant supplementation may actually reduce the insulin lowering effects of exercise. So if you are exercising to stay out of the pre-diabetes zone, think twice.

• Perspiration will cause the body to lose minerals, so these are more of a concern if you are a heavy sweater or enjoy Bikram's yoga, or run outside in Arizona.

These include potassium, magnesium, chloride, sodium, bicarbonate and others.

Your body fluids are like seawater - full of these salts, or ions, that we call electrolytes. They get the electro portion of their name because they regulate electrical impulses in our nerves and muscles. Your kidneys regulate them, but if you lose a lot of them through urine and sweat and just replenish with water, they will eventually be depleted.

• The increased rate of metabolism that can accompany regular vigorous exercise would also eventually cause one to generally go through micronutrients more quickly than if one were sedentary.

These include zinc, calcium, leucine, sodium, potassium and more.

They are being expelled in urine and feces and used up in the muscle breakdown/repair/regeneration cycle.

 * * * * *

If you are undertaking regular moderate exercise and eating a fairly nutritious diet without a lot of processed junk, you should be fine...

However, there is a common misconception that "if you exercise, it doesn't matter what you eat" when really, the opposite is true; if you exercise, it matters even more what you eat! So it is good that you are looking into the matter.

To help the antioxidant situation in a healthy way - eat a few more dark Green and Colourful Vegetables daily, and vary your fruits every day, looking for Red cherries and Orange apricots etc, and avoid transfats (which are sources of free radicals and peroxides) such as bakery pastries and deep fried chips.
*Eat lots of (blue)berries, salmon, red beans, and other nutrient dense foods.

To help with the ones lost to sweat, little flavoured electrolyte packages are easy to add to water for after runs in the sun...coconut water is good too, bananas are easy, and try using Real Salt or himalayan salt or Redmond salt every day instead of plain table salt. You'll get all the trace minerals that way.

Overall, eat a balanced, varied, unprocessed, colourful diet. Eat healthy fats daily, such as avocado and nuts, and eat a variety of nutritious grains like millet and quinoa, aim to get plenty of zinc and calcium (get adventurous with bouillabasse and cooked greens) and you will be alright.

If you feel you need to supplement with antioxidants, omega 3s, magnesium, zinc or other things, get some more help from a professional. You might find that a good quality chemical-free protein drink powder or greens powder mixed into water every day you do hard exercise helps you a lot.

Source: https://www.quora.com/Does-too-much-exercise-deplete-certain-vitamins-and-minerals-What-is-the-process-behind-this-depletion

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MAGNESIUM DEFICIENCY AND EXERCISE

WHY ARE WE MAGNESIUM DEFICIENT?

By Immune Matrix LLC (Copyright)

The Weekend Warrior, Over training
It has been found that exercisers that feel weak and tired are highly likely to be suffering from mineral deficiency. Magnesium is lost via sweat and can bring on fatigue, muscle cramps, impaired glucose and oxygen transport into muscle cells, especially the heart. Sweating from exercise or saunas, steam rooms, when done regularly require the regular replacement of magnesium. In severe cases, with extreme athletes, body builders and long distance runners, depletion of heart tissue magnesium can cause Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD), myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, and heart arrhythmias.

The mechanism of sudden death after a stressful event can be traced to magnesium depletion that causes oxygen depletion in the heart muscle, and increased arrhythmia from increased catecholamine output.  Magnesium loss was the first electrolyte derangement seen even before potassium loss. Intravenous magnesium therapy has increased survival rates.

Without optimum “cellular magnesium” levels (our ATP/cellular energy synthesis) optimum muscle contraction and oxygen utilization suffers, sometimes with fatal consequences. Therefore, over-training, overexertion, excessive sweating, either done in one event or done repetitively, especially without sufficient electrolyte replacement will burn magnesium at a faster rate and send us into intracellular deficiency of magnesium.

A runner need not drop dead on the course of sudden cardiac death to be magnesium deficient. Sudden cardiac death strikes the youth and prime even post event when intracellular heart magnesium is not replenished. Over training, and not becoming aware of the state of one’s intracellular magnesium could be fatal as you might not have other magnesium deficient symptoms such as cramping of muscles to warn you of a problem!

In a treadmill study of 44 healthy male athletes and 20 untrained men, the athletes’ their average maximum oxygen consumption was higher, their work capacity increased 50% and they had lower lactate after exercise than the untrained men. This is to be expected. What was not expected was to find a correlation between oxygen consumption and serum magnesium. When magnesium was depleted, oxygen consumption declined along with endurance and performance. Therefore, magnesium’s role in facilitating oxygen delivery to muscles is significant.

Another interesting study was performed on marathon runners measuring their free fatty acid levels during a 26 mile race and their serum magnesium levels. They compared their values against an untrained runner who was given magnesium supplementation of 375mg/day for a week before the run. The marathon runners showed increasing levels of free fatty acids as they approached 26 miles (indicating increasing levels of stress perceived by the body and stress hormones released as a result) and corresponding decreasing levels of serum magnesium levels, but not with the untrained runner! Because he was talking magnesium, his body was able to burn the magnesium to ward of an increase in stress hormones. He had lower stress hormone excretion, less lactic acid build up and more magnesium to spare. The end result, he ended the race healthier metabolically than the marathon runners who did not take magnesium supplementation! (Pratt K, Moody ML, Cinlee RK, Rueddel H, Frnz KB; Changes in serum free fatty acids and magnesium during a marathon. Magnesium 4:207-208, 1985.

Another study found that the stress of marathon running had caused these runners to have increased platelet aggregation factor TXB2 levels as serum magnesium levels were depleted. TXB2 causes vasoconstriction as well as sticky blood. Clearly, magnesium replacement during runs are as or even more important than plain water to prevent dehydration during and after a race!

Additional silent damage, the consequence of magnesium deficiency, induced by strenuous exercise, leads to calcium overload, resulting in cell membrane lipid anti-per oxidative activity. In lay terms, this means magnesium deficiency increases one’s free radical activity, leading to increased stress on one’s heart muscle, leading to aggravation of all heart conditions. Free radical accumulation from extreme exercise and magnesium deficiency was buffered by taking vitamin E and magnesium. The fact that extreme athletes and those regularly engaging in strenuous exercise do not have a longer lifespan may be attributed to magnesium depletion leading to increased oxidative stress and metabolic induced inflammation which could be avoided by paying attention to one’s magnesium!

Therefore, even before we begin to push our bodies for strenuous exercise, if our tissue magnesium stores are low, we will notice more fatigue, decreased exercise capacity despite regular exercise. We will feel dragy, winded and have a hard time picking our energy up from exercise. If we continue to push our bodies, we will then suffer muscle stiffness, spasms or strains and sprains from the stiffness that results from low intracellular magnesium. Biochemically, we will increase our stress hormones even more when we are magnesium deficient, and suffer more free radical synthesis, increased cholesterol! and oxygen depletion to our heart muscle. However, our heart tissue can become deficient in magnesium before other tissues of the body. Thus we might not have any body symptoms to warn us of a more serious heart muscle deficiency. The consequences to the heart can be fatal. Beware the stressed executive that dies on his/her treadmill as this can be the silent vicious cycle of mineral depletion.

Stress
We all underestimate stress because we live in it daily and take it as part of our daily lives. But stress takes it’s toll on us. Stress, both physical and mental aggravation, frustration, irritability, causes you to burn magnesium at a faster rate. Stress makes your body more acidic. Magnesium is used to buffer that acid. Therefore, stress causes you to burn magnesium faster to neutralize the acid.

Our adrenals and nerves secrete stress hormones called catecholamines and corticosteroids, when under emotional or physical stress. Do you know when your body is releasing these stress hormones? No! Like using up the gasoline in one’s car, it’s a slow and steady drain. These stress hormones cause the loss of cellular magnesium leading directly to problems with cellular energy production, and skeletal and heart muscle performance that lead to blood clotting and heart arrhythmias.

There was a study comparing Type A and Type B individuals that found that Type A personalities excreted more stress hormones in response to noise and mental stress and depleted their magnesium faster than Type Bs! This explains the increased risk among Type A’s for mitral valve prolapse, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. Becoming aware of our stressors, managing how we react to stress and increasing one’s magnesium will help to buffer us from daily stress.

The bad thing about stress is that as it depletes you silently of your magnesium, low intracellular magnesium causes the excretion of MORE stress hormones. Therefore, magnesium is protective in preventing excessive release of these stress hormones! In addition, adrenal stress that causes the adrenals to release the hormone epinephrine (our fight or flight hormone) burns intra cellular magnesium at such a fast rate that one quickly becomes depleted.

What causes our adrenals to release more epinephrine? Physical stress, as in strenuous exercise, strenuous training, runners, especially marathon runners and those suffering from prolonged emotional, familial, and work stress. Please see our other articles about cortisol function.

The stress hormones also signal the body to release free fatty acids as an energy source. However, there is a price to pay for this extra needed energy boost during times of stress. These free fatty acids bind and inactivate magnesium in your blood stream and heart, slowing down the transport of glucose and oxygen into muscles and prevent magnesium from being used by the Kreb’s cycle to make ATP as energy, using a more inefficient free fatty acid source for energy. Fatigue, cellular oxygen deprivation especially of heart tissue, increased free radicals, loss of glucose transport, and our cholesterol ratios are thrown out of balance. We hit a wall energetically.

Imagine the typical stressed executive, by nature of his/her lifestyle is already burning magnesium at a faster rate because of their adrenal output of stress hormones. He wakes up and has a high acid breakfast of coffee, eggs and a muffin that consumed intracellular magnesium to neutralize the breakfast. He dashes to work out already feeling short on time. Then this driven executive goes to the gym and does a rigorous 30 minute treadmill run, sweating out magnesium and continuing to push his adrenals to excrete epinephrine for energy to keep up with his strenuous activity. If the night before, he had to entertain clients and had several alcoholic drinks (causing him to urinate extra magnesium) and he ate a large steak for dinner (high acid meal), then his lifestyle continues to deplete him of magnesium. If there was a work deadline pending the next few days, or this executive had a fight with his wife the night before or with his kids that morning before hitting the gym, his body is in peak demand for magnesium. Depending on the duration of his life stressors and duration of his acid diet, combined with his life stressors, it becomes no surprise when this executive drops dead on his treadmill from sudden cardiac arrest, in large part from severe depletion of myocardial intracellular magnesium.

If this stressed executive does not drop dead that morning, then continued stress hormones coupled with consumed intracellular magnesium cause calcium overload in the tissues. This will lead to heart arrhythmias and calcium deposits in blood vessels, accelerating atherosclerosis, the development of kidney stones and bone spurs, accelerating osteoporosis for men and women. It will push his cholesterol out of optimal range despite his efforts to eat a heart healthy diet!

Now that we know that our food and lifestyle predisposes us to magnesium wasting, what do we have to fear aside from sudden cardiac death with chronic depletion of magnesium?
Part 3 will discuss why magnesium is so essential to our health. It will also go into what medical conditions pre-dispose you to magnesium deficiency and discuss specific conditions and their mechanism of depleting us of magnesium, in turn making the condition worse!

Please note:
Information on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication or other treatment.

Source:

http://chronicfatigueandnutrition.com/vitamins-and-minerals/why-are-we-magnesium-deficient/ 

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Hypomagnesemia (Low Magnesium)

What Is Hypomagnesemia?
Hypomagnesemia is an electrolyte imbalance and is indicated by a low level of magnesium in the blood.  The normal adult value for magnesium is 1.5-2.5 mEq/L.   

Magnesium is one of many electrolytes in your body and normal levels of magnesium are important for the maintenance of heart and nervous system function.

What Causes Hypomagnesemia?
Your body regulates magnesium levels by shifting magnesium into and out of cells.  A shift of potassium into the cells causes hypomagnesemia.
Magnesium can be excreted by your kidneys. Any damage to your kidneys, when they are not working properly, may cause a decrease in magnesium levels.
There are other causes of hypomagnesemia.  These include:

• You may be taking in too little magnesium in your diet.
• If you have stomach or bowel problems, you may not be able to absorb the magnesium you take in.
• Magnesium may not be absorbed properly due to alcohol use, diarrhea, or laxative use.
• Increased excretion of magnesium from your body
• Renal (kidney) damage - Losses of magnesium from the kidneys are a common cause of magnesium deficit.
• Certain drugs, including Cisplatin, Amphotericin B, or certain antibiotics may affect your kidneys.
• Endocrine disorders - such as Aldosteronism, or dysfunction with the thyroid and parathyroid glands or diabetes.
• Pregnancy

What Are Some Symptoms of Hypomagnesemia To Look For?
You may not have any symptoms, unless your blood test results show that your magnesium levels are significantly decreased.
Muscle weakness, confusion, and decreased reflexes with severely low blood magnesium levels.  You may also notice "jerky" movements, high blood pressure, and irregular heart rhythms with severely low blood magnesium levels.
Things You Can Do If Your Blood Test Results Indicate Hypomagnesemia:

• Follow your healthcare provider's instructions for increasing your blood magnesium level. If your blood levels are severely lowered, he or she may prescribe medications to lower the levels to a safe range.
• Take all of your medications as directed.
• Drink 2 to 3 liters of fluid every 24 hours, unless you were told to restrict your fluid intake. 
• Follow all of your healthcare provider's recommendations for follow up blood work and laboratory tests if blood test results indicate hypomagnesemia.

Drugs That May Be Prescribed By Your Doctor for Hypomagnesemia:

• Magnesium supplements - This medication is given usually intravenously, to increase your blood magnesium level, if you have severely low blood magnesium levels. You may also take magnesium oxide in a pill form.
• Calcium and potassium supplements - If you have severely low blood magnesium levels, you may also have low calcium and potassium electrolyte levels. Your healthcare provider may order supplements in an IV or a pill form. Magnesium, potassium and calcium levels will not return to normal, unless all of these electrolytes are corrected.

When To Call Your Doctor or Health Care Provider About Hypomagnesemia:

• Feeling your heart beat rapidly (palpitations).
• Nausea that interferes with your ability to eat, and is unrelieved by any prescribed medications.
• Vomiting (vomiting more than 4-5 times in a 24 hour period).
• Diarrhea (greater than 5 stools per day).
• Muscle weakness, or twitching.
• Shortness of breath, chest pain or discomfort; swelling of your lips or throat should be evaluated immediately. 
• Source: http://chemocare.com/chemotherapy/side-effects/hypomagnesemia-low-magnesium.aspx 
  

  

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  Increase mental & physical performance while reducing exhaustion. Keep driving while competitors are fading. WorkoutExtreme™ contains a unique blend (caffeine, ginseng, taurine, glucuronolactone) that is designed to increase exercise focus, performance, and intensity without the weight gain associated with creatine products. Higher quality training sessions can ultimately improve performance, boost total calorie burn and enhance weight loss results, especially if you’ve hit a plateau. www.truefitnessbootcamp.com
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5 Reasons You Quit Working Out and 5 Reasons to Start Back

By Jessica Kane

It may seem like every year, you are making the same old commitment, and every year, you are struggling to keep it. With the advent of the New Year, you might have submitted yourself to a New Year's resolution to establish a workout routine. But perhaps you are already reporting that you have not been able to keep your resolution. Perhaps you already quit the gym. There are a number of factors to this that you should consider. People make commitments for a lot of reasons and they quit those commitments for a lot of reasons. There are underlying psychological motivations that keep people from going to the gym, and often, they are simple.

5 Reasons You Quit Working Out

1 - You felt self conscious.

Sometimes when an individual goes to the gym for the first time, they will be overwhelmed by all of the machines. They do not know which one they are supposed to use or even how to use it. It can be rather embarrassing to sit on a machine and to use it improperly. You might also be a little self-conscious because all of the people there are fit and in shape, and you might not be. Of course, the very reason that you are at the gym is to develop a more fit physique. Also, the internet is a great resource. When you go home, you could just do a little research about the equipment.

2 - You had false expectations.

People sometimes go to the gym hoping that they would have a certain type of workout equipment. When they do not have it, they are discouraged and use that as an excuse to quit. Worse still will be when people say that if only they had access to an indoor pool or some sort of tech. Well, having that tech may be helpful, but you will still have to exert yourself and it will still be exhausting. You will still have to come up with excuses even if you had that tech.

3 - You kept telling yourself that it was okay to skip just one day.

A lot of procrastinators are familiar with this sort of behavior. It can set a dangerous precedent. After all, you could say that every day. You could eat one high calorie cheeseburger every day, and say "It's just one..." But before you know it, you are suddenly obese. Similarly, skipping one day over and over again eventually leads your gym life dying a slow death.

4 - The employees were rude.

While it is certainly an unpleasant experience when somebody is rude, if you use that as an excuse to stop going to the gym, then it is just an excuse. How long do you spend with the gym employees? They usually just scan your card and you walk passed them. They are probably not too big of a nuisance and if they are, you could always just tell their boss. Either way, allowing a rude employee to dictate your physical health is probably not the wisest approach and is probably just an excuse.

5 - You are not internally motivated.

You need to ask yourself what is drawing you to the gym. What are you getting out of it? Is your motivation drawn internally? Are you going to the gym so that you can feel better and that you can live a longer and more healthy life? If you are motivated for some other reason, like peer pressure or something external, you will not be properly motivated.

5 Reasons For You To Start Back

1 - You desire self-control.

You tell yourself that you are not going to have one of the donuts that your coworker brought in. But then you do anyway, and you regret it afterwards. Why did you do that? The temptation was just so powerful that you could not resist it. People who have willpower are focused on what they truly want rather than what their immediate desires are.

2 - It alleviates anger.

Perhaps the reason that you stopped going to the gym was that it was a frustrating experience. You could not bring yourself to work out every day and it was burdensome to spend so much time there. But going to the gym will actually reduce stress. During periods of exertion, endorphins are released in your brain and you will feel happier. That is not a coincidence. It is a direct result of exercise. That is why many people who have a workout pattern are content with their life.

3 - You can make it a social engagement.

There are not many opportunities in life when you get to spend time with your friends. Going to the gym can be an excellent social engagement. That will also prevent any slacking. If a group is going to the gym, it will be rather difficult to make up some lame excuse about why you cannot go. You could have a pact that you will encourage each other.

4 - Confidence.

Confidence is important in your professional life and in your social life. If you are single, you might not have the confidence to meet people. If you are unemployed, you need to exhibit confidence in your interviews. Confidence can be fostered when you take pride in your appearance. If you go to the gym on a regular basis, you will begin to look better and develop more confidence. Confidence fuels success.

5 - Sleep better.

Many people do not do much that is exerting throughout the day. Even if you work on your feet all day, you are probably not running and lifting. So, when you lay down, you might not feel as tired as you should. Exercise will provide natural exhaustion without resorting to pharmaceuticals. It is the most natural way to become tired enough to get to sleep.

Jessica Kane is a professional blogger who is trying to be healthier this year. She currently writes for AEDs Today, where aeds are for sale including models like Lifepak 1000 and Lifepak 15.

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Effects of Estrogen in the Water

Pink Water

Plastics, Pesticides, and Pills Are Contaminating Our Drinking Supply

By Holly Pyhtila

In September of 2007, the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program in Norway released some startling statistics about birthrates in the globe’s northernmost reaches. The group found that twice as many girls as boys were being born in some Arctic villages, and that across much of Greenland, Canada, and Russia, a disproportionately high number of female births were occurring. In Sarnia, ON, home of one of the most extensive petrochemical complexes in the world, an unexpectedly large number of girls was also being born, according to Canadian census data. Nearby, a First Nation community had half as many boys as girls.

The accumulation of toxins such as PCBs, flame-retardants, and other artificial chemicals used in electronic equipment has been blamed for the shift in birthrates. These endocrine disruptors are carried by the weather to the Arctic, where they gather in the water and the food chain and concentrate in the bloodstreams of largely meat- and fish-eating communities. Studies of mothers’ blood indicated high levels of human hormone mimickers, leading researchers to conclude that man-made chemicals had triggered changes in the sex of unborn children in the first three weeks of gestation.

The Arctic birthrates, while exceptional, are not isolated. Across the globe, the gender balance of the human race appears to be changing. Historically, the number of male births has been slightly higher than the number of female births. But a 2007 study by the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences found that in Japan and the US, there were 250,000 fewer boys than would have been expected had the birth/gender ratio from 1970 remained unchanged.

The exact cause of this shift is unclear. What scientists do know is that estrogen mimickers and endocrine disruptors found in our drinking water supply can have profound effects on humans, interfering with the synthesis, secretion, binding, and action of natural hormones. They affect reproduction, development, and behavior in humans, and can decrease fertility, skew the gender ratio toward female, and feminize genetic males.

While North Americans can still boast of having the cleanest drinking water on the planet, big problems have developed with our water supply – and they’re not the old concerns about microorganisms or waterborne diseases. This new breed of contaminants is of our own making.

 

Plastics, Pesticides, and Pills

An Associated Press study released in March of 2008 finds trace amounts of estrogen, as well as more than 50 prescription drugs, in the water sources of 41 million people. The AP discovered that drugs have been detected in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas, from Detroit and Louisville to Southern California and Northern New Jersey. Although most of the levels of the contaminants meet current drinking water guidelines, studies have shown that mutations and sex organ changes in animals still occur at levels far below those limits.

How do these hormones and chemicals enter our water supplies?

Chemicals leaching from plastic are a major source of estrogen compounds in the water supply. Bisphenol A (BPA), a known endocrine disruptor, is a central component in polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins, and over six billion pounds of it are produced in the US each year. This chemical has been used for decades in the lining of food cans, plastics, baby bottles, and dental fillings.

When plastic is discarded, it doesn’t biodegrade; rather, it photodegrades, which means it breaks down under sunlight. When plastic containing BPA photodegrades, it eventually releases estrogen mimickers that can leach into the water supply. When combined with chlorine used to purify municipal water, harmful estrogen-mimicking organ chlorides are also formed. Phthalates, also endocrine disruptors, are another widely used toxic chemical, used primarily to soften otherwise hard plastics. Canada, the US, and several countries in Europe and Asia have already initiated bans on phthalates and BPA, but both chemicals continue to circulate in municipal water supplies.

Dr. Fred Vom Saal, a biologist at the University of Missouri, is an outspoken opponent of the use of BPA. Based on more than three decades of research on the chemical, Vom Saal warns that “putting female sex hormones into a male’s body is a really bad idea. You’ll see lower sperm levels, male breast development, and changes in fat distribution. In females, you’ll observe damaged egg cells, repeated miscarriage, and genetic abnormalities in the embryos.”

Other side effects of BPA exposure include obesity, diabetes, early-onset puberty, prostate and breast cancer, hyperactivity, hormonal disruption, neurological damage, ADHD, and autism. Vom Saal adds that the use of plastic is so widespread that BPA levels sufficient to cause these health problems are present in municipal water supplies in every city in America.

Our industrial food system is also to blame for the hormone-mimickers found in our drinking water. For example, the hormones pumped into industrially raised livestock often eventually find their way into municipal water supplies. According to a paper published in the July 2004 issue of Environmental Science & Technology, the US’s 10 million cows and 43 million swine excrete a daily mix of 20 to 65 lbs of metabolites of estrogen, likely an order of magnitude higher than what the human population puts out. The hormones are dispensed to the animals to promote growth and to artificially continue lactation in dairy cows. Industrially raised cattle, swine, and poultry are also delivered daily combinations of steroids and antibiotics.

Pesticides are another problem. In a 1997 Residue Monitoring Report, the FDA determined that at least 53 carcinogenic pesticides are routinely applied to American food crops. Some of these, such as atrazine, have been found to cause gender mutations in amphibians and fish.

As the AP investigation finds, another major source of water contamination is all the pills we pop. The proportion of healthcare spending in North America devoted to prescription drugs, including estrogen-laced birth control pills and hormone replacement therapy, has risen dramatically in recent decades. In the last five years, prescriptions grew by 12 percent. The human body can absorb only some of the medication, and the rest of it passes through and is flushed down the toilet. Discarded medicines often find their way there too.

The AP reports that sex hormones have been detected in San Francisco’s drinking water, that the water in Northern New Jersey contains the mood-stabilizing carbamazepine, and that anti-anxiety medications have been found in a portion of Southern California tap water. In Philadelphia, 63 pharmaceuticals or by-products were found in the city’s watersheds.

And it’s not looking like the “answer to pollution is dilution” theory works. After being ingested, excreted, and flushed down the drain, these drugs are not being filtered out by water treatment facilities. What that means is that people could be getting a small dose of thousands of different drugs with every glass of drinking water. The resulting health implications are just beginning to be realized.

Dr. Jennifer Sass, a senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in Washington, DC, warns that “anyone drinking tap water in most American cities is essentially taking hormones with their glass of water; and specific populations, including children, people who are pregnant or those with a heart condition, should be especially concerned.” She adds that “people should not be reassured by the miniscule levels these drugs are being detected at since they are absolutely within the range of levels where we know they are active in our bodies.”

 Gender Benders

Scientific studies done on other species have confirmed that the consequences of too many hormone-mimickers in the water can be profound. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) allows atrazine levels of 3 parts per billion (ppb) in our drinking water. Yet University of California research shows that when tadpoles are exposed to atrazine levels of only 0.1 ppb, they develop extra testes or ovaries. Atrazine promotes the conversion of testosterone to estrogen, which explains why male frogs often developed both male and female sexual organs. Scientific studies have shown exposure to low levels of estrogen can cause not only hermaphroditic frogs, but also alligators born with shrunken penises, and frogs with extra legs.

Two years ago, EPA-funded scientists at the University of Colorado studied fish in Boulder Creek, a mountain stream. Of the 123 trout and other fish they netted downstream from the city’s sewer plant, 101 were female, 12 were male, and 10 were “intersex” fish with male and female features.
A US Geological Survey team report released in February of 2008 found more evidence of feminized fish. In the Potomac River, seven out of 13 male largemouth bass caught had female characteristics. Some of them were even producing eggs.

Early in 2008, after an exhaustive seven-year research effort, Canadian biologists proved that miniscule amounts of estrogen present in water could decimate wild fish populations downstream. The research, led by University of New Brunswick Professor Dr. Karen Kidd, confirmed that synthetic estrogen used in birth control pills can feminize male fish and cause them to produce female egg proteins.

What this means for humans is uncertain – but there is cause for concern. While men have a small amount of the “female” hormone estrogen, when these levels are elevated due to an outside source such as drinking water, it can lead to serious health consequences, including the onset of feminization.

Waste Not

Sewage wastewater is treated before it is discharged into reservoirs, rivers, or lakes, and the water we drink is cleansed again at treatment plants before it is piped to consumers. Doug Doyle, senior engineer with the City of Vancouver Waterworks Department, says, “All municipal drinking water systems in North America follow the same American Water Works Association (AWWA) standards.” Conventional treatments do not remove many drug or chemicals residues, which is why these endocrine disruptors and hormone mimickers are still showing up in water supplies. 

Doyle explains that “chlorination remains the most common form of disinfection used, and while ultraviolet light or ozone can also be used, chlorine is favored due to its low cost, effectiveness, and relative safety.” The problem is that while chlorine is effective at killing waterborne bacteria and microorganisms and neutralizing effluents, it doesn’t eliminate other pharmaceutical chemicals or hormone compounds.

“More sophisticated technology like membrane filtration, activated charcoal/carbon systems, or reverse osmosis is required to do that,” Doyle says. “But these energy-intensive and expensive systems are not routinely used in municipal systems.” Researchers are looking to new cheaper catalysts and activators and nano-filtration as possible methods to remove these contaminants from wastewater in the future.

Complicating the current effort to remove hormones and chemicals from water supplies is a basic lack of data. Neither the AWWA standards nor the US Safe Drinking Water Act, which regulates drinking water supplies, requires testing for pharmaceutical contaminants, which means that there is not even a clear understanding of the scope of the problem. Of the 62 major water providers contacted by the AP for its investigation, only 28 test for pharmaceuticals and hormones.

Adam Scow with California’s Food and Water Watch says that the failure to measure and regulate chemicals in municipal water supplies leads to distrust of the government’s ability to guarantee safe water: “When stories come out about problems with tap water, it also promotes the privatization of drinking water and the consumption of bottled water, while we should instead be pressuring government to upgrade existing systems.”

The Clean-Up

Around the world, demand for fresh water is starting to outstrip supply. From Atlanta – a major city that relies on a relatively small water supply, the Chattahoochee River – to Las Vegas and Los Angeles – which are facing diminishing precipitation due to climate change – communities are struggling with how to keep the taps running. “Water wars are already brewing or are even at the court level in most of the US,” says Noah Hall, executive director of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center. The diminishing water supplies make the chemical contamination of our water all the more aggravating. We need, as Hall says, to “take care of what we’ve got.”

Some positive changes are underway. Many of the farming methods that pump unwanted drugs into water systems are facing renewed scrutiny, and organic farming is on the rise. Bans on BPA and plastics that leach phthalates are already in place in some countries.
But if the contamination continues, and water laced with pharmaceuticals and estrogen chemicals continues to be consumed, our feminized populations may become severely ill and “reproductively challenged.”

Despite that threat, government agencies appear unconcerned with the risk. In April, Benjamin Grumbles, deputy administrator for water with the EPA, told a Senate subcommittee hearing that, “In the absence of reliable data indicating potential risks associated with pharmaceuticals in water at the very low levels at which they have been detected, it would be inappropriate to require monitoring and/or treatment that could carry significant cost, with no evidence of significant risk reduction based on currently available data.” Researchers and environmentalists disagree.

While the effects of most drugs and chemicals are immediate and don’t remain in the body like heavy metals do, the effects of repeated exposure do add up. NRDC scientist Sass believes that “the effect of low-level exposure to these hormones may never be measurable, since the penetrance must be very high in order for epidemiologists to take notice, and it’s also very likely that the effects in humans aren’t easily detected as many of them are pre-birth.

“There is virtually no research being done on this kind of low-level exposure to pharmaceuticals and estrogen compounds,” Sass says. “The only experiment we’re doing is the one in the drinking water.”
Holly Pyhtila is a Vancouver, BC-based freelance writer.

What You Can Do to Keep Your Water Drug-Free

Prevent more contamination

• Stop flushing outdated or unused medication (including those for pets) down the drain. There are programs in place across North America to accept old pharmaceuticals. If your local pharmacy doesn’t accept old medication, the EPA advises you contact your state and local waste management authorities. Also, consult your physician to determine which medications can be removed from your regimen.
• For women on hormone replacement therapy or birth control pills, start looking at alternatives to these estrogen-based drugs. Health professionals agree there are often negative side effects to taking estrogen, and there are natural and alternative methods for both birth control and hormone replacement needs.
• Eat less meat and dairy, and eat only organic meat, poultry, and dairy products. Certified organic farming methods do not incorporate the use of hormones, antibiotics, or steroids.
• Reduce or eliminate the use of plastic in your home. Store food and water in glass or stainless steel containers. Choose soups and milk packaged in cardboard “brick” cartons, and if you must use plastic, choose items made with recycling # 2, 4, or 5 plastic only. Remember, cans are lined with plastic too, so choose fresh and local foods when you can.
•  Avoid herbicides and pesticides around the house. Check the labels of your hair products, cosmetics, and skin creams and discontinue using those containing placenta, estrogen, estriol, or estradiol. 

 Filtering the estrogen

Estrogen contamination from products such as birth control and estrogen therapy has led to possible health concerns when consumed from drinking water sources. It is unhealthy for the human body, animals, and the environment, causing feminization in humans and the birth of more females. In order to make the removal of estrogen more practical, multiple filtration methods where tested to determine which method was the most efficient and practical to use. From gathered research, graphitized carbon was hypothesized to be the most efficient and practical method of estrogen removal from water. It is both inexpensive and made of fine material. 

After three rounds of experimentation with the filters, GCB (Graphitized Carbon Black) was found to be the most effective filtration material for estrogen removal. Although it was not more effective than some of the filter that are speciall y designed to purify water (the Oasis products), it was the most effective and practical material that was used, removing 98-100 percent of the estrogen compounds on each of the tests. Therefore, GCB was found to be the most efficient and practical filtration material overall. 

Source:

http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/eij/article/pink_water/

http://www.scientiareview.org/pdfs/169.pdf 

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