Understanding Environmental Chemical Exposure During Pregnancy

Image Source: Pixabay

If you're struggling to conceive, you're not alone — infertility may be on the rise. Chemicals in our environment may be impacting the fertility of both men and women as well as the health of a developing fetus. They may be unintentionally ingested or absorbed into the skin harming your health.

How can you avoid these chemicals? First, we must understand how they enter your body.

A guest post by Indiana Lee

What You Need to Know About Chemical Exposure

Chemical exposure can occur in many ways. The most obvious are ingesting or inhaling. For example, drinking tap water contaminated with lead can lead to infertility or harm a developing fetus.

What’s less commonly known is that your skin can also absorb substances that disrupt reproduction. How much depends on many factors, including the integrity of your skin, which part of the skin was exposed, duration of exposure, and how much got on your skin.

Repeated exposure to toxic chemicals can accumulate in your body. This can lead to problems in both fertility and pregnancy.

Understanding Fertility

According to the CDC, over 13% of women aged 15 to 49 struggle with this issue. In 2018, PEW Research Center discovered that one-third of U.S. adults used fertility treatments or knew someone who did. They state that fertility rates may be “at an all-time low.”

These rates, however, are tricky to measure, but science does link infertility to health conditions that are on the rise. 

Unpreventable Risk Factors Linked to Infertility

Some health conditions are unavoidable, including those that are genetic. It’s important to get a diagnosis early so you can understand your chances of conceiving a child. 

For women, causes of infertility include:


● Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)

● Endometriosis

● Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)

● Reproductive or hormonal dysfunction

● Premature ovarian insufficiency external icon, when a woman’s ovaries fail prematurely, usually due to chemo or radiation

● Early menopause or depletion of egg supply

Men also have health conditions that can contribute, including varicoceles, trauma to the testes, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, and certain autoimmune and infectious conditions. 

Avoidable Risk Factors

If you’re in good health, though, you can improve your chances of conception by avoiding these preventable risk factors. 

The Role of Diet

Our microbiota consists of the microbes that live in or on our body that live primarily in our gut, but they also exist in the uterus and the vagina. Studies indicate that the microbiota in the gut of a pregnant woman impacts the “immune and metabolic development of the offspring” during both pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Research has also shown a link between stillbirths and bacteria. The bacteria that is the likely cause exists in 20-30% of women. The microbiome changes during pregnancy. Those changes may be linked to preterm labor. That means that for women, a healthy microbiota is key for fertility, pregnancy, and delivery. 

Other Lifestyle Factors

Several lifestyle factors can impact male or female fertility. While you can’t change certain conditions, there some lifestyle choices you can change to help:

● Alcohol

● Tobacco usage

● Marijuana or other drugs

● High blood pressure

● Depression, anxiety, or stress

● Exercise (too much or too little)

● Obesity or being too much underweight, for women
 

Chemicals That Impact Fertility

Harmful chemicals affect both men and women. Some are unavoidable, such as chemotherapy for cancer patients. However, the most common culprits are often avoidable: endocrine disruptors. These chemicals interrupt proper hormonal function and reduce fertility in both men and women:

● BPA in plastic containers and bottles

● Dioxins found in herbicides

● PFAs on nonstick cookware

● Phthalates and parabens are in toiletries and cosmetics

● Flame-retardant coatings

● Triclosan in personal care products

● Phytoestrogen from soy and tofu products

● Perchlorate can found in drinking water

It’s wise to take steps to remove these from your home. Buy safer products and filter your water.

Lingering Environmental Pollutants

While that covers everyday exposure, some outlawed chemicals remain in the environment and continue to damage our reproductive systems. In recent years, lead has been found in tap water and soil. Lead exposure has been linked to reduced fertility in both men and women.

Another example is asbestos, which causes several medical problems, including cancers that can harm maternal health and fetal development. Other pollutants that may affect fertility are PCBs. Outlawed in the 1970s, they do not disintegrate and may harm reproduction.

Healthy Choices That Support Fertility and Pregnancy

Unless you have a medical condition, there are steps you can take to support conception and healthy pregnancy. 

Proper Health Maintenance

Eliminating unhealthy habits such as smoking, vaping, and excessive alcohol are a good start and are even more critical during pregnancy.

It’s also important to maintain proper oral and medical care. Before getting pregnant, both partners should regularly see their healthcare providers ensuring they are healthy enough to prepare for conception.

Getting the right amount of exercise is smart too. Too much or too little can impact fertility. In addition, some women may have to limit their mobility or activity when they are expecting.

Finally, once pregnant, women should visit their obstetrician regularly to ensure the health of the baby.

 
The Importance of a Healthy Diet

A healthy microbiome is necessary for pregnancy and can help both parents improve their chances of conception. To keep your gut healthy and avoid obesity or diabetes, reduce sugar, processed food, and artificial ingredients as much as possible.

Eat whole foods as much as possible. While pregnant women should consult with their doctor about how much fish is safe to eat, salmon and other fatty fish are a good choice of nutrients. Reduce red meats and eat mostly fresh produce.

Talk to your doctors about the best food choices to keep you healthy and fit. They can recommend supplements and a probiotic if they are necessary.

Chemical exposure can impair your ability to reproduce. However, these simple steps can support your journey to and through pregnancy.

Pharmaceutical Microbiology resources http://www.pharmamicroresources.com/

COVID-19 brings further evidence on the importance of microbes for our health

While the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have been devastating, it has also served as a key milestone on the road to understand the human microbiome and how it affects our health.

Post by Isabelle de Cremoux

Since the early 2000s, research efforts aiming to understand the composition and functional significance of the human microbiome have been increasing, allowing us to have a much clearer insight into how microbes can either support or challenge our health. The pandemic has given a unique opportunity to further explore links and interconnections and discover new areas.

In the last year, several studies have been launched to explore the role of the human microbiome as a risk factor and its function as a biomarker for COVID-19 severity. We are all aware of underlying health conditions and other aspects that could exacerbate disease severity, and initial results from these studies have shown that microbiome dysbiosis is indeed associated with co-morbidities, such as obesity or diabetes.

Data have also shown that microbiome samples are ideal for highly accurate predictions of COVID-19 severity and mortality. Oral and stool microbiome samples served as best for such predictions, having found that the presence of selected bacteria, such as Enterococcus faecalis, an intestinal bacterium in the gut, or the oral microbe, Porphyromonas endodontalis could lead to increased severity risk. In addition, the composition of the lung microbiome was seen to change during the infection, leading to weakened lung resilience, which in turn could be used to predict acute respiratory failure and potentially mortality.

Such trial data could indicate that microbiome profiling of COVID patients could be important for understanding the short-term impacts of the infection. Additionally, as we learn more about long COVID, microbiome profiling could be helpful for identifying risk in individuals for resilient long-term impacts.

Establishing a correlation between a patient’s microbiome profile and the impact of COVID-19 could also provide a promising starting point for potential treatment. In addition to managing the viral infection, additional inventions targeting microbiome imbalances may be important in reducing progression towards severe complications, and initiate the healing process. Today, there are several microbiome-based therapeutics, including prebiotics and probiotics, that are now being evaluated for their potential to protect against future outbreaks.

The ongoing pandemic has caused significant disruption in many aspects, but it has also given the microbiome community an unprecedented opportunity to further essential research. These recent findings underpin the notion to widen the research around the microbiome, to gather more evidence on how crucial it is for our immune health. We shouldn’t lose the current momentum but it is important to keep up the wide ranging support even after the pandemic is [somewhat] under control.

---

If you would like to learn more about how the pandemic helped scientists unveil new links with the microbiome and how it impacted this research area, you may access the full report “The COVID-19 Pandemic and The Human Microbiome”, available on request at contact@seventure.fr

Posted by Dr. Tim Sandle, Pharmaceutical Microbiology Resources (http://www.pharmamicroresources.com/)

Novel Bacterial Biopigment with Diverse Applications

Researchers from Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences have discovered a psychrophilic bacterial strain, called Rhodonellum psychrophilum GL8, at the high altitude Pangong Tso Lake in the Himalayas. It produces a red pigment which promises to be useful for the development of antimicrobial smart fabrics, medicated bandages, and natural food coloring and preservatives.

 

The red pigment isolated from this bacterium possesses antimicrobial, antifungal, and skin cell growth stimulating properties. This novel bio-pigment promises to be useful for the development of antimicrobial smart fabrics, medicated bandages, and natural food coloring and preservatives.

 

Dyes and their vivid colors have fascinated humankind even beyond recorded history. Archaeology offers evidence of dyeing of garments in the Bronze Age and during the heyday of the Indus Valley Civilization. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, the world relied on natural dyes sourced from plants such as indigo, turmeric, saffron, beans, and paprika. The Industrial Revolution brought with it synthetic dyes that were much cheaper and readily available for use in the cosmetics, textile, pharmaceutical, and food industries. But a side effect of this wanton application of synthetic dyes has been the steady contamination of our soil and water with the toxic chemicals released from these artificial products.

 

In recent decades, people have become aware of the negative effects of synthetic colorants and the demand for naturally occurring non-toxic dyes has been increasing by 10–15% annually. In their search for eco-friendly bio-colorants, researchers have identified microbes as potential sources of pigments that promise to be environmentally friendly and economical, besides being non-toxic, inexpensive, and readily available. Another advantage of using pigments of microbial origin is, unlike certain plant or fruit dyes, their production is not dependent on seasonal fluctuations, and, given the right growing conditions of the microbes, they can be mass-produced like synthetic dyes.

 

So where does one look for these color creating bacteria? According to a team of researchers from Shoolini University, India, in some of the most unimaginable and inhospitable environments.

 

Led by Professor Kamal Dev from Shoolini University’s Department of Biotechnology and Microbiology, the team has discovered a novel strain of a Gram-negative extreme cold-tolerant species of bacterium from the freezing waters of the Pangong Tso Lake in the Himalayas, which produces a brilliant red pigment. As Prof. Dev explains, “Synthetic molecules are slowly being replaced by biological ones with diverse functions. The Himalayas hold within it a unique heritage of biological diversity. The overall objective of this study was to characterize the production of pigments by the microbes of high-altitude lakes in Northwest Himalayas for solving the emerging problems of health, food, and environment. In our quest, we isolated and characterized a red pigment producing strain of Rhodonellum psychrophilum.”

 

The researchers confirmed the novel status of this strain of Rhodonellum psychrophilum, which they called ‘GL8’, through phylogenetic analysis, and subjected the isolated pigment to chromatographic and spectrometric techniques to identify the constituents. They found that the red pigment extracts contained a mixture of 2-methyl-3-butyl-prodigine, Prodigiosin, 2-methyl-3hexyl-prodigine, 3, 4-Didehydrorhodopsin, anhydrorhodovibrin, alloxanthin and Tetradecanoyl-hexadecanoyl compounds. They further characterized the pigment by testing for bioactive properties. The results revealed that indeed, GL8 is special.

 

 

How special is this ‘GL8’? In their study published in Process Biochemistry, the team  report that not only is the pigment produced by GL8 a wonderful colorant, but it also has a multitude of useful biological properties. For instance, its broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity makes it perfectly suited for application in the manufacture of smart fabrics with an antimicrobial finish. Additionally, this pigment has anti-oxidant properties, and acts as a bio-enhancer, augmenting the effects of established antibiotics and anti-fungal agents, making it an ideal candidate for use as a food preservative. Interestingly, the pigment also showed growth stimulating properties of murine skin cells but no toxicity to human cells, which may open avenues for its application in expediting wound healing. In fact, the researchers have filed patents based on their impressive discoveries, which they believe will provide unique local solutions to global problems of nutrition, medicine, and environment.  

 

Puzzling on the question of why a minuscule microbe would possess such a diversely powerful pigment, Prof. Dev speculates, “Melanin pigment in our skin protects us from hazardous UV radiation, which can cause skin cancers. Similarly, many living organisms produce some unique pigments as survival strategies in response to harmful radiations, pollutants, or freezing conditions.”

 

Whatever may be the reason for its evolution, there is no denying the usefulness of this pigment to humans. While the researchers explore this wonder microbe to unravel its superpowers further, the world holds onto the hope for applications of its currently identified anti-microbial properties to fight the increasing incidences of pathogenic infections.

 

Reference

 

Authors: Garima Bisht, Srishti Srivastava, Ritu Kulshreshtha, Anuradha Sourirajan, David J Baumler, Kamal Dev. Applications of red pigments from psychrophilic Rhodonellum psychrophilum GL8 in health, food and antimicrobial finishes on textiles, Process Biochemistry DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procbio.2020.03.021

 

Posted by Dr. Tim Sandle, Pharmaceutical Microbiology Resources (http://www.pharmamicroresources.com/)

Moving Away From Animal Testing: The Case Against The Biological Reactivity Test

 

While some animal testing may, in special circumstances, continue to have a need for the determination of safety in pharmaceuticals, strides are being made in replacing many animal tests with laboratory tests. One such area where progress has been made, and where further action is required, is with the case of the general test for toxic products. While this test is described differently in different compendia, it has the same aim: to determine if mice and guinea pigs die once administered with a pharmaceutical product. Such is the crude nature of the test; it can be argued that if this doubt exists the manufacturer of the product should not be in the business of making medicines in the first place.

 

The test in question is the Biological Reactivity Test (also referred to as: General Safety Test, Abnormal Toxicity Test, or the Innocuity Test) is a test for the detection of extraneous toxic contaminants which is sometimes undertaken for biological products intended for administration to humans. This article sets out the case for its final elimination.

 

 

Sandle, T. (2021) Moving Away From Animal Testing: The Case Against The Biological Reactivity Test, IVT Network, at: https://www.ivtnetwork.com/article/moving-away-animal-testing-case-against-biological-reactivity-test

 

Posted by Dr. Tim Sandle, Pharmaceutical Microbiology Resources (http://www.pharmamicroresources.com/)