Scientists have found that many brands of toilet paper contain a toxic chemical called BPA. You may know BPA as a chemical found in plastics. It’s in water bottles, food containers, and even baby toys. And guess what? It’s also in toilet paper, thanks to contamination during the recycling process.
You see, many toilet papers are made from recycled paper. And some of the papers being recycled come from magazines, credit card receipts, and other papers that are coated with plastic. As a result, BPA makes its way into the toilet paper. In fact, .
Research shows that . And with toilet paper, it’s even worse than regular paper. Why? Because you’re wiping with toilet paper onto your anus. Not only is your anus right next to your prostate, but it contains lots of blood vessels (mucous membrane).
So when you’re wiping with BPA-laden toilet paper, the toxin goes right into your bloodstream. It’s as if you were giving yourself a BPA suppository! When BPA goes into your bloodstream, it can wreak havoc on your prostate health and sexual function. This has been demonstrated in .
found that patients with unhealthy prostates had much higher BPA than people with healthy prostates. Another study found that , even in tiny amounts. And yet another study found that by a whopping 20%!
Why is BPA so damaging to your prostate and sexual health? Well, it has to do with its ability to mimic estrogen. As you may know, BPA is chemically similar to estrogen. It can actually mimic estrogen and cause your body’s levels to shoot up. This can lead to estrogen building up in your prostate.
When estrogen builds up in your prostate, you have an imbalance of estrogen and testosterone. To compensate, your body converts testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT). You see, DHT is 10 times stronger than regular testosterone. So your body converts as much testosterone as it can into DHT, in order to undo the adverse effects of rising estrogen.
But there's a downside to DHT. DHT stimulates prostate cell growth, and causes your prostate to swell up until you have trouble peeing.
As your prostate gets bigger and bigger, you begin to lose urinary control. What happens next? Well, you may need to get up several times at night to rush to the bathroom. You may need to look for the men's room everywhere you go. When you try to pee, you may dribble in stops and starts. And you may feel like you never fully empty your bladder.
Microplastics, a consequence of industrial society, are dangerous to men's health. All of this is not meant to scare, but to inform. Stay away from the toxins that you can avoid, and detoxify your body when you need to. It's a struggle sometimes, but healthy living is worth it.
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