Mailbag! The Surprising POISON in Your Home
By
Natalie Moore
Posted July 27, 2017
Dear Living Well Daily Reader,
You’ve got questions…
We’ve got answers!
Dangerous chemicals are a fact of life these days.
It seems like you can’t look at a food label or household product without seeing a list of nasty substances you can’t even pronounce.
But trying to avoid these chemicals is a lot harder than you may think…
Scientists have just found that toxic, health-wrecking chemicals are literally all over your home and even in the air you breathe.
And you’ll never believe how you’re being exposed to them.
Let’s dive in…
Hey Natalie,
Indoor dust always sets off my allergies. But I heard recently it can hurt your heart, too. Is that really true, and is there anything you can do about it?
Thanks,
Sylvia G.
Thanks for such an important question, Sylvia.
Unfortunately, the answer is yes. Indoor dust can contain many pollutants, including chemicals that can cause heart problems and lots of other diseases.
Let me explain…
As you may already know, household dust contains a variety of things like pet dander, skin and hair cells, soil, mold, fungal spores, fabric fibers and just about anything you can think of.
But this isn’t the worst of it.
A brand new study has found that indoor dust can also contain toxic levels of endocrine disrupting chemicals (or EDCs) that mess with your body’s hormones.
EDCs are used in the manufacturing of many textiles, carpets, pesticides and plastics. Previous studies have linked them to brain and reproductive problems.
But it wasn’t until this latest study by Duke University that researchers knew the full danger of these nasty chemicals.
For the study, scientists took samples from 11 North Carolina homes and lab tested them on mouse cells.
The dust from 7 of the homes contained enough EDCs to trigger the cells to develop mature fat cells and accumulate triglycerides, a type of fat linked to heart attack and stroke.
Even worse, nine of the samples had an EDC content high enough to spur cell division, thus creating a larger amount of certain fat cells.
Given that the average household contains thousands of products that contain EDCs, you’re talking about fairly serious risk here.
Especially when you consider that even miniscule amounts can have measurable effects.
Your best shot at avoiding exposure to EDCs in your home is through regular dusting, buying an indoor air filter, and removing or cutting down on the amount of plastics, flame-resistant fabrics and foods treated with pesticides.
Do you have health questions you want answered? Drop me a line: feedback@livingwelldaily.com
Live well,
Natalie Moore
Managing editor, Living Well Daily
Ed. Note: Please send your feedback: feedback@livingwelldaily.com – and click here to like us on Facebook.
Sources
[1] House dust spurs growth of fat cells in lab tests
[2] Household dust makes people fat, groundbreaking research indicates
Written By Natalie Moore
Natalie Moore is a dedicated health researcher with a passion for finding healthy, natural, and science-based solutions. After a decade of direct healthcare experience in western and natural medicine, she was involved in public health research before joining Living Well Daily.
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