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The average store-bought soap and shampoo contains alarming amounts of toxic chemicals. The main culprits are parabens, sulfates, triclosan, and phthalates. The levels of toxicity and their effects vary, but parabens and sulfates are particularly common. What they all have in common is that they are endocrine disruptors.

An endocrine disruptor is an exogenous substance or mixture that alters the function(s) of the endocrine system and consequently causes adverse health effects. More specifically, these toxic chemicals in your shampoos and body washes are a specific type of endocrine disruptor; they’re xenoestrogens.

Xenoestrogens are foreign chemicals that act like estrogen and bind to the estrogen receptors of cells in your body. Xenoestrogens in shampoos can be particularly dangerous as skin absorption is highest on the forehead and scalp out of anywhere on the body.

When exogenous estrogen-like molecules enter the body through skin absorption, over time it can have a multitude of long-lasting health effects. This is because excess estrogen is stored in adipose tissue (fat), which is hard for the body to metabolise and get rid of..

Some of these health effects include:

• Excess fat. Estrogen acts as a signaling molecule that tells cells to store fat in anticipation of an upcoming pregnancy. This is why we see men who are exposed to xenoestrogens develop man boobs.

• Lower testosterone: estrogen ratio. Action by excess estrogen stops testosterone doing its job, essentially meaning xenoestrogens cause lower testosterone. Low testosterone is highly problematic in both men and women.

• Mood disorders. When our brains are fired up on dopamine (a neurotransmitter associated with motivation, often described as the ‘go’ molecule), we feel a sense of pleasure in completing whatever task is at hand. When our brains no longer need dopamine stimulation dopamine gets recycled using the COMT enzyme, which pulls them out of circulation, breaks them down into their chemical parts, and reassembles them for later use. Individuals vary in the speed of their COMT enzyme. Individuals with slower COMT action have elevated levels of dopamine and norepinephrine, meaning they’re at higher risk for mood disorders. Estrogen slows the COMT enzyme down by as much as 30%. Effectively meaning xenoestrogens can cause anxiety, irritability, stress intolerance, etc.

• Reduced reproductive health. The average males sperm count is down 60% since 1970. Presence of estrogenic compounds such as phthalates has been found to decrease sperm motility and hyperactivity by compromising the sperm's ability to generate ATP. Furthermore, phthalate exposure (particularly at doses exceeding 10 μg/mL) significantly affected fertilization and early embryonic development.

• Immune dysfunction. Estrogenic hormones have the ability to both stimulate and suppress the immune system. When xenoestrogens cause this confusion of a delicate system such as the immune system, it can increase the risk of autoimmune disease, premature births and hinder your ability to fight off common colds and viruses.

• Cancer. Multiple studies have shown that estrogens play a role in the initiation of cancer, particularly breast cancer. Estrogenic compounds induce the transformation of human breast epithelial cells to enable them to form progressively growing tumors.

• Inheritable DNA damage. Some of the damage xenoestrogens cause to our DNA and epigenetics (the layer on top of our DNA that influences gene expression) can be inherited. So your exposure to xenoestrogens might significantly increase the risk of obesity, cancer, and infertility in your children, grandchildren, and descendants.

It is worth noting that its not just shampoos, bodywashes and soaps in general that contain xenoestrogens. Plastic packaging, pharmaceutical drugs, processed foods, grain-fed meats, perfumes and receipts all contain some form of xenoestrogens.

When washing, use a reverse osmosis water filter, which will guard against any xenoestrogens in the water supply. Aleppo soap is safe from xenoestrogens, and even has vitamin E which can help the body process such molecules. Avoid anything in plastic packaging. Do these things and you are doing better than 99% of the Western population.

Most importantly, however, don’t forget to live your life. Be aware of what is going on, but also know that some exposure to xenoestrogens will not kill you and living a rich social life is important. Biomax is about giving you access to elite health and being in the real world living sociably can be part of that. Biomax provides access to elite-quality natural personal care products, like they were meant to be. It is not about scaring you into being overly-concerned of everything you touch & eat because it is stressful to the body to be this way and therefore unhealthy.