Transcription
disruptors are linked to a host of health issues, particularly in women who are already facing numerous challenges. It's just not fair. This is an area that deserves immediate attention.
The reality is that the beauty and personal care industry is not held to the same stringent regulations as food and drugs. This leaves many consumers unaware of the harmful effects of the products they use daily.
When it comes to understanding the cumulative impacts of these chemicals over time, it’s critical to consider not just individual products, but how they all interact within our bodies.
The key takeaways are simple:
1. Be proactive about reading ingredients.
2. Educate yourself about potential toxins in the everyday products you use.
3. Seek out safer, transparent brands wherever possible.
Doing so can drastically reduce your toxic exposure and potentially improve your overall health and well-being. It's about making informed choices that can protect you and your family from harmful substances lurking in common products.
Stay conscious, stay informed, and take small, manageable steps towards a healthier lifestyle. It may be overwhelming at first, but gradually eliminating toxins from your everyday life can lead to significant improvement in your health and the health of those around you.
Ultimately, this is about empowerment—knowing what you're using, and being able to make choices that reflect your values and priorities for a healthier life.
Engage in this ongoing conversation around toxins, become advocates for better regulations, and support each other in striving for a cleaner, safer environment for everyone. You deserve it.
Disruptors can impact fertility and increase their chance of getting cancer. Why? Why is that the case? I think it has to do a lot with the types of products that certain demographics would gravitate towards. So depending on your hair type, what kind of products you might need, there really is no explanation to why these toxic chemicals are in those products in particular, in such high numbers. That's really the problem: why is it more prevalent for those populations than others?
I think this is an ongoing societal issue of environmental injustice and, to a certain extent, environmental racism. It really is, um, it really is. Yeah, you said it's a form of racism and it's a form of sort of environmental injustice. Are people aware of this?
I don't think so. I think the vast majority of people are entirely unaware of this, and studies show it. Because there are studies showing that the earlier you start using cosmetic products, the higher your chance of coming down with breast cancer. The people who had the highest prevalence were African American females. So, I think it's a combination of the fact that there is some level of racism and environmental injustice, but also a cultural and societal preference for certain products.
So, Black women are at the highest risk of getting breast cancer under the age of 40. Yes. What can be done about that, do you think? Is this something that the government has to do something about, or is it both something that we have to sort of increase our own public consciousness of and make better choices?
Um, is there an easy solution to fix this? I think if we wait for the government to take action, we'll be waiting for a long time. The cosmetic regulations in the United States were not updated until recently, and before that, the last update was when they were actually created nearly a hundred years prior. A hundred years had gone by with no change to the cosmetic regulations. None. Yet, more and more products are being churned out without being tested, without knowing what the health effects are, and then later on we see increases in all of these diseases that we've been talking about.
So, I think instead of waiting for the government, my goal and my purpose, and my passion, is to empower people with knowledge and solutions so they can take steps to protect themselves.
Is there a funding issue with Black-owned businesses and sort of these Black beauty products that is causal in all of this, in your opinion?
I think it really comes down to whether or not the creators of the products are aware of these risks and whether or not they are able to formulate in such a way that they don't use these types of ingredients. I think that there has been a push for clean beauty, Black-owned clean beauty. I've seen it. Could it get cleaner? Yes, I think so. So, I think it's only a matter of time before somebody creates it.
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What we always do is we light some candles, and this is one of the candles that we light. You mentioned candles earlier on at the start of the conversation, but what's your opinion on candles? Are they safe?
Smells depend on what type of candle you have. There's basically a safer alternative for pretty much any product that you can think of. So, I'm not one that says across the board candles are toxic; it's very specific conventional candles, paraffin wax scented candles, which is what you'll see in stores. The majority of candles out there are the ones that we shouldn't be burning.
So this is a scented candle; it doesn't say what type of wax it is. So we can be pretty certain that this is a paraffin wax candle. At least using the precautionary principle, we should assume that something is guilty before it's proven innocent. So unless we know for sure that this is not a paraffin wax candle, I wouldn't light it. Because if I light it, then I'm pushing toxic chemicals into the air. Exactly.
So, conventional candles—there are five main reasons why I would not burn a conventional candle.
1. When you light those candles, they liberate carcinogens like benzene, toluene, and formaldehyde.
2. They also release ultrafine particles. Ultrawide particles are some of the most hazardous substances that you can create in your home.
3. They contain undisclosed fragrance, and within fragrance, there can be endocrine disruptors, carcinogens, and allergens. So when you light these candles, you're getting all of these toxins into your air.
4. Some of the dyes used to color candles are carcinogenic, and nobody has any idea if you burn them what are the health effects of burning these carcinogenic dyes.
5. Candles are largely unregulated, which means that if you were to look at that candle and it says "soy blend," there can be paraffin wax in there even though it says "soy blend."
A lot of people think soy blend means it comes from soy; it must be healthier for me. So they'll go for that. But if it says soy blend, one should assume that it's a majority of petroleum-derived paraffin wax with a little bit of soy wax in there because the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which regulates candles, doesn't look at the ingredients in the candle. They're concerned with the vessel, the container of the candle, whether or not it's fireproof, and whether or not the wick contains lead. They're not looking at what's in the wax. But studies have shown that when you light these candles, you are liberating a significant number of hazardous chemicals.
So, we shall use incense instead?
Incense is even worse, and I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but incense has been used for thousands of years. However, incense as we know it now is not the same as incense that was used a thousand years ago. They now contain carcinogens and endocrine disruptors, but also ultrafine particles. Studies have shown that incense creates more ultrafine particles and pollutants than cigarette smoke.
There's an increased risk of cancer because these ultrafine particles are damaging DNA. Damaged DNA leads to mutations, and mutations can lead to cancer. There's an increased incidence of cancer in temple workers, so people who are around incense for hours upon hours at a time have an increased risk of cancer. Not only that, there's an increased risk of cancer, almost threefold, in children whose parents burned incense in the home.
Okay. So no incense? My house is going to stink.
Well, you can use different candles that you can use. Based on my research, I looked—I was really hell-bent on finding what is the type of candle that has the lowest emissions, the least emissions. Because let's make it clear: anytime you burn something that's not necessarily healthy, but it doesn't mean that you can't do whatever.
No. If you find a candle that is low emission—like beeswax, essential oils, wooden or cotton wicks—then that's a much better alternative than your conventional paraffin wax scented candle.
One of the things that I guess is kind of adjacent to this inhaling chemicals is vaping. It's really interesting because over the last couple of years, vaping has become more and more popular around the world. I think cigarettes have declined, and especially amongst young people, more and more people in my friendship group, anyway, are vaping now more than ever. What are your thoughts on vaping? Is that harmful?
Yes, vaping. Vaping fluid or liquid is a chemical mixture that you are inhaling, and these chemicals have not been tested for inhalation safety, namely the flavors and the fragrances that are used. Specifically, the flavors have not been tested for inhalation because they're intended for oral ingestion—to be eaten. So they're not tested for inhalation safety.
I used to work in a flavor and fragrance company and that was one of the biggest issues. People were putting these chemicals that were not tested into these vapes, and the health effects are unknown. But now, that's been 10, 15 years—we know that vaping is not healthy.
Shisha, or hookah, I guess you call it a hookah in America. I mean, that's even worse, isn't it?
Yes, there is also a lot of risk associated with hookah. I did it earlier, and it said it was the equivalent of 100 cigarettes. Having shisha, which is annoying because from time to time when I'm in the Middle East, I'll go to one of these shisha bars with some of my friends. But when I read that it's equivalent to like 100 cigarettes, I thought, "I'm never doing that again. It's just really not worth it."
Speaking of being in the Middle East and these sort of built-up cities, one of the things I've thought a lot about more recently is air quality—both indoors and outdoors. What do I need to know about air quality indoors and outdoors?
Air quality indoors can be up to five times worse than air quality outside, which shocks a lot of people. That stat comes from the Environmental Protection Agency, the EPA. The reason being is that people are not adequately ventilating their homes, and we're doing things like cooking. Cooking generates particulate matter too. But do we need to stop cooking?
No, but we need to prioritize what's important and what's not important. Burning candles, how important is that to you? Make sure you're choosing a better candle. Make sure you're opening the windows. Indoor air is absolutely imperative. If you want to improve your health, you have to clean up your indoor air.
Keep my shoes at the door?
I heard you say that before. This shocks a lot of people, but there are simple ways to improve your indoor air quality, and one of them is taking off your shoes—not wearing your outside shoes in your home. That doesn't mean you have to go barefoot; you can wear slippers or wear other shoes that are specifically meant to stay indoors.
That's because shoe soles are vectors for fecal material, pathogenic bacteria and viruses, heavy metals, industrial chemicals, pesticides—things that are outside should stay outside. But didn't we used to live outside as a species?
Right, but when we lived outside, there weren't all of these cars and factories that were spewing all of this exhaust all over the place. Dust our houses on a regular basis, you said as well—Hoover and sweep more regularly. You said keep plants in the house.
Yes, indoor plants. Make sure that if you have indoor plants, they can be really beneficial for well-being. They can help to purify the air to some extent, but they can also harbor mold in the soil, so just make sure to check your house plants for mold.
What about humidity in my house? Does that matter? Because a lot of people are getting these dehumidifiers in their house now.
Yes, humidity can increase the growth of mold, and mold is extremely toxic, so you want low humidity. You want to keep your humidity in a steady range, so have one of those little humidity monitors— they’re just a couple of dollars; you can find them at almost any store. Try to keep your humidity on the lower end. We don’t want it too high, because then that will promote mold growth.
So what about seasons? Are there particular seasons where our houses become more and more toxic?
Definitely during the colder months. People don’t open their windows enough. Some of us are lighting more candles. Some people like to light wood and burn wood fireplaces and stoves.
What’s wrong with that?
Those create the most ultrafine particles that you can imagine in your home. These ultrafine particles—nitrogen dioxide, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons—these are all carcinogens. They are created when you burn things, and burning wood in your home is one of the worst things that you can do if you can avoid it.
If you don't need it to survive, consider something else.
But I've got a chimney, right? It doesn't always stay in there; it doesn't only go up— it can come out.
So a better way to keep my home is just by doing the, you know, the central heating, the hot water, central heating.
Yeah, underfloor heating, right. But make sure you open the windows on a regular basis too because you want to exhaust the old stale air, and you want to replace it with fresh air.
Aside from people who live near a busy highway, most people should be able to open their windows, even in cold months. In Germany, there's a practice called Luft-Lüften, where you open the windows even in the dead of winter. It lets in fresh air, refreshes the stale air, and makes such a huge difference on our health.
I was reading about indoor air pollution, and there's some research done by the World Health Organization that says household air pollution was responsible for 3.2 million global deaths per year. This is because household pollution can cause deadly health problems such as pneumonia, pulmonary disease, lung cancer, strokes, and cardiovascular disease.
The combined effects of outdoor air pollution and household air pollution are associated with 6.7 million global premature deaths annually, according to the World Health Organization. I mean, it's difficult, isn't it, living in cities with so much outdoor pollution as well?
And there's not really a solution to that.
I mean, we could go around wearing like masks or something all day, but it's just not going to—it's not going to be a good way to live, right?
I mean, if you're able to get an air purifier, that can help with your indoor environment. But the key is to remove the sources of pollution as much as you can. Just try not to create it, and then you don't have to spend as much time trying to clean it up.
You mentioned earlier that the body has an antioxidant called glutathione. Is it possible to increase my levels of this compound if it's good for me? Is there something I can do?
There's so much you can do. Okay, there's so much you can do. Number one, you can exercise. Exercise increases glutathione; it's very simple. Just exercise, move your body.
Where is glutathione produced?
It's mainly produced in the liver and kidneys, and the third highest amount of glutathione in the body is in the testes and the ovaries because it plays a vital role in protecting our reproductive organs from toxicity and ensuring fertility.
It's a chemical; it is technically a chemical. It's made out of three amino acids: glutamate, cysteine, and glycine. We all have it; everyone has glutathione. Some people have more; some people have less. It really just depends on your genetics. Some people just genetically make more of it than others.
If I make more of it, then my body is going to be less toxic. Is that a simple way of thinking about it?
Yes, very simplistically, right? But that's not counting your lifestyle.
What about my lifestyle could make it worse and lower? What can impact my glutathione levels? What can make it low?
The non-stick cookware, the heavily fragranced products, eating ultra-processed foods, not exercising—so being stagnant, not moving enough—all of that reduces your glutathione. Not sleeping well?
What about alcohol?
Alcohol absolutely depletes glutathione. We know that alcohol targets the liver; glutathione detoxifies alcohol. If you don't have enough glutathione, you can't detoxify alcohol. Alcohol can cause cancer. So if I'm drinking heavily and I'm also consuming a lot of these other toxic chemicals because of just my everyday life, then my glutathione is going to be depleted because it's so focused on detoxifying the alcohol that there won't be enough left to detoxify the rest of my body. Is that a simple way to think about it?
Right, and all the other chemicals that you're being exposed to.
Okay, so you want to keep your glutathione levels high, right? I read that the healthy glutathione levels in an adult is 553, which is 90 milligrams per liter of total glutathione in their blood. So I want to increase my glutathione levels to make sure that I have a better natural defense to all of these toxic chemicals in my life.
I'm going to start exercising, I'm going to avoid ultra-processed foods, I'm going to eat whole foods.
Yes, whole foods, but specifically sulfur-rich foods because glutathione contains cysteine, which contains sulfur, and sulfur is the part of the glutathione molecule that's doing the work that's protecting us. So the more sulfur you can give your body, the more building blocks it has to make glutathione.
So we eat things like leafy greens, broccoli, cruciferous vegetables, meat, eggs, dairy can also help to increase it. There's even some studies showing that if you consume whey protein, it can help to increase glutathione by supplying the amino acids needed to produce it. Matcha green tea is also a really good source of glutathione building blocks.
But I think what we need to do is also remove the chemicals that are depleting our glutathione, and that's through choosing better products, not stressing as much, and then adding on how we can build and add more glutathione with lifestyle changes.
Making sure you get adequate sleep—if you don't sleep well enough, that's going to impact the amount of glutathione you have as well.
Interesting.
Cigarettes?
Cigarettes absolutely get rid of cigarettes.
You mentioned matcha there. I am one of the owners—I'm an investor in a matcha green tea company. What's your opinion of—I mean, I'm exposing my bias here, obviously—but what's your opinion of matcha?
I think matcha is amazing. If you get the right type of matcha, you want to look for organically grown matcha and look for ones that are tested for heavy metals because heavy metals can accumulate in tea plants; that’s just naturally occurring. So you want to look for matcha that’s been tested.
Because you're consuming the entire leaf, it's important to look for the cleanest matcha you can get. But there are so many benefits to matcha, like the fact that it helps you increase glutathione.
I'm sold! I'm sold on it. Do you drink matcha?
I do. But we also want to avoid adding dairy to a matcha. I know that a lot of people like to drink matcha lattes, but there's actually studies showing that the casein protein can decrease the absorption of some of the beneficial compounds in matcha. So if you can drink it the traditional way, in Japan, it's just water—no sugar, nothing, just matcha and water.
The company I'm referring to—I've got to disclose, I've probably got to say hashtag ad, hashtag sponsored, whatever—I'm an investor in a company; it's called Perfect Ted, and it's absolutely exploded in the UK. I spoke to them this morning actually, and they told me that their sales have increased 5x since last year because I think people are looking to shift away from some of the canned energy products.
And there are a lot of energy benefits with matcha. Now, if you go to like a Joe & The Juice or any of these like Blank Street Coffee or Tesco or whatever, you can find their products in there. It seems to be like there's a bit of a revolution going on with energy and matcha, which is very, very exciting because for many years, I was drinking some—I don't want to name any names, but I was drinking some of these energy products that you'll find, and um, I just felt bad.
There's something about the energy curve of matcha which I think is better. I feel like I'm less susceptible to crashes with matcha. I don't know if there's support for that, but it's good to hear that it also increases my glutathione levels, which will help me have less of a toxic body.
Yes, absolutely, because it is in and of itself a strong antioxidant with anti-cancer properties, and it can help to increase the production of energy in our cells. One of the things that is required to create glutathione is ATP, and a lot of these environmental chemicals are targeting the mitochondria, which are the powerhouses of the cell that make ATP.
So if you're knocking down the energy center of the cell and it's not able to make ATP, you're not able to detoxify. You will feel sluggish, and over time diminish the quality of your life.
What is the most important thing we haven't spoken about today that you're most passionate about? Is there anything that we missed that you think is particularly important to the many people that are listening right now?
I think the one thing that I want to emphasize more than anything is to not feel fear about chemicals. I want there to be empowerment and not fear because chemicals are all around us all the time, whether or not you're aware of it. But not everything is going to kill us.
So being in a state of confidence and knowing that, "Hey, I've taken some very simple steps that I know will have a big impact on my life in the long term," that's what I want everyone to walk away with. I'm just thinking about the simple changes that I can make immediately.
I think the big things that I have as takeaways are: get rid of the antiperspirants that I've been using, get rid of the deodorants that I've been using, transition away from the non-stick pans, stop consuming anything plastic—especially if it's been heated, like plastic cups from coffee shops and plastic trays that you microwave things in.
My water—you said that was really critical.
Yeah, air quality. Air quality—it's quite difficult to do something about air quality, but I guess the simple thing is to open the windows and doors more often, clean the house, keep the shoes at the door, get rid of the scented and fragrance products, the scented plugins, the air fresheners.
I was just thinking about my dog. I do love my dog, but I don't want to be—what's your thoughts on pets?
Well, pets can actually increase the amount of pollutants in your air, but again, if you're cleaning your home on a regular basis, it's not a problem. There are so many benefits to having pets and cleaning the pets as well.
Yeah, yeah. So maybe consider wiping off their paws when they come back in from a walk.
Is there anything else that you're working on at the moment or any research that you're particularly curious about—any hypotheses you have that are bubbling away in your mind about toxins in our environment that you're yet to maybe share with the world?
I'm waiting to find out more about microplastics and the diseases that are associated with microplastics. I think that is the next emerging toxin of the year, and I think more awareness needs to be brought around microplastics, and just more research is urgently needed.
I think, yeah, you make a really good point that none of us are ever going to reach perfection, and that shouldn't necessarily be the goal. But a worthy goal, and a goal that we can all aim for, is just to be better in some way as it relates to our environment—to improve our environment in even small ways.
Even the small improvements, as you've said when you talked about the dose, and you talked about how these things compound in our bodies over time—even small improvements made today can have big impacts over the long term.
So small improvements, small things that we can change, and not getting bogged down because our life and our environment are so full of toxins—it’s always going to be, really. There's not a scenario we're going to live in where it's not the case.
But small things we can do can have big impacts. And as you said, you've made changes to your life, and it's been the cause or fact of you having a family, which is a beautiful thing.
We have a traditional closing on this podcast where the last guest leaves a question for the next guest—not knowing who they're leaving it for. The question that's been left for you is: if you could solve any problem in the world, but only one problem, what would it be?
The problem of toxins.
That's too easy, isn't it? Predictable.
That's too easy! Of course, it would be toxins—hands down. Immediately! If I could just remove all of these toxic chemicals from our environment and just eliminate them—not send them into outer space, but just remove them from the face of the Earth and just have them cease to exist—that would be the most amazing achievement I could ever imagine.
What would life be like in such a world?
I imagine it to be like a utopia. People aren't sick; people aren't ill. People are well and happy and thriving—just radiating. That's how I see it.
Dr. Yvonne Burkhart, where can people find you if they want to learn more about your work? What's the best place for them to go to get more information?
I have a website: DrBart.com. I also have a newsletter that I send out called LowTalks. You can also find me on Instagram at DrYvonneBurkhart, and I also have a YouTube channel where I love to do deep dives and get really, really geeky and nerd out on one topic at a time.
Okay, I'll link all of that below so everyone can find you. Thank you so much for the work that you do—it's so incredibly important, and it's so incredibly illuminating.
Because it's so mad that it's only recently, in the last couple of years, that these conversations have emerged—the things about microplastics, endocrine disruptors, and the link this has to fertility, our health, obesogens, all of these kinds of things. It's so crazy that this conversation has only emerged in the last couple of years because growing up, there was no mention of this in my household.
There was absolutely no mention. And I just wonder how life could have been different for myself but also for so many millions of people all around the world if we were aware of this information.
It's not to say, again, that we can live perfect lives, and that's never the goal. It's never my goal. My goal is just to have more access to information so I can make small steps and often low-cost steps in the right direction.
If that increases my probability of having kids—which is the season of life that I'm in now—and it increases the probability that my kids are healthy when they grow up, then that is an amazing thing. And that is the work you're doing. You're doing an amazing thing.
Thank you so much, Dr. Yvonne Burkhart. I highly recommend everyone goes and checks out your YouTube channel; it will send you down a really important rabbit hole because you make really accessible, great videos on that channel.
Thank you so much for your time today and for the work that you're doing.
Thank you!
I'm going to let you into a little bit of a secret. You're probably going to think me and my team are a little bit weird, but I can still remember to this day when Jama from my team posted on Slack that she changed the scent in this studio. Right after she posted it, the entire office clapped in our Slack channel.
This might sound crazy, but at the Diary of a CEO, this is the type of 1% improvement we make on our show. That is why the show is the way it is—by understanding the power of compounding.
1%—you can absolutely change your outcomes in your life. It isn't about drastic transformations or quick wins; it's about the small, consistent actions that have a lasting change in your outcomes.
So, two years ago, we started the process of creating this beautiful diary, and it's truly beautiful inside. There are lots of pictures, lots of inspiration and motivation, as well as some interactive elements. The purpose of this diary is to help identify, stay focused on, and develop consistency with the 1% that will ultimately change your life.
We have a limited number of these 1% diaries, and if you want to do this with me, then join our waiting list. I can't guarantee all of you that join the waiting list will be able to get one, but if you join now, you have a higher chance. The waiting list can be found at thediary.com. I'll link it below, but that is thediary.com.
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