The Common Chemicals That Can Affect Breast Development

…and other items from this week’s health science news:

Were you aware of these?

The hidden problem: sometimes, a substance might not be too dangerous by itself, and so doesn’t get outright banned, but can become dangerous in the presence of certain other substances.

In a recent study, breast tissue organoids were exposed to individual chemicals and mixtures, including endocrine-disrupting chemicals, metabolism-affecting chemicals, and known or suspected carcinogens.

In this case, a mixture of BPA, BPS, and BPF produced relatively few changes individually, but together at very low concentrations comparable to levels detected in human blood and urine, they disrupted normal breast development in organoids from most donors.

Perhaps most concerningly, molecular changes associated with the bisphenol mixture most closely resembled patterns found in human breast cancer data for invasive lobular carcinoma, a type that can be difficult to detect because it may not produce a lump and can be harder to identify on a mammogram.

Read in full: Study finds common chemicals may alter normal breast development

Related: Body Scrubs: Benefits, Risks, and Guidance

HRT continues to get more support from Ob-Gyns

Historically, most of the scaremongering about HRT and cancer is due to one (1) incredibly flawed study, which has been well-refuted by a huge weight of counterevidence in the decades since.

The (deeply flawed) Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study, conducted in the 90s and published in 2002, linked HRT to breast cancer, causing fear, but it turned out that this was quite bad science in several ways and the reporting was even worse (even the flawed data did not really support the conclusion, much less the exaggerations and outright fabrications in the headlines).

This week, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) gave hormone therapy a strong recommendation as a first-line treatment for hot flashes, night sweats, and related sleep problems, with benefits outweighing risks for most people experiencing these symptoms.

In particular, the updated recommendations replace the previous emphasis on the lowest dose for the shortest time with regular reviews, allowing some women to continue treatment beyond age 60 if symptoms persist:

Read in full: Menopause hormone therapy gets stronger endorsement from OB-GYNs in expanded guideline

Related: New Evidence: HRT Doesn’t Increase Cancer Risk Even If You Have The Genes For It

From the mind to the body

Stress is not, in fact, all in your head!

Rather, recent research has shown that psychological stress can reactivate joint inflammation after the disease had entered a remission-like state.

Specifically, in the study, psychological stress activated the sympathetic nervous system and brown adipose tissue (BAT), causing the fat tissue to release interleukin-6 (IL-6), an inflammatory signaling protein. In turn, IL-6 stimulated fibroblast-like synoviocytes in joint tissue to produce CXCL1, which attracts neutrophils, white blood cells that contribute to (or rather, directly form part of) inflammation.

On a practical level, what this suggests is that that joint tissues can retain inflammatory changes that allow stress to reactivate arthritis independently of lymphocytes, which means that this gives us a potential therapeutic target that could be explored without broadly suppressing the immune system.

Read in full: How psychological stress can trigger arthritis flares via an inflammatory pathway

Related: How Stress Causes Physical Pain: The Brain–Body Connection Explained Simply

Take care!