November 13, 2017
Following up on the maternal microbiota and autism risk article from a few weeks ago and last weeks tylenol discussion, we have yet another piece of literature regarding maternal exposures and offspring disease risk.
This October's JAMA Internal Medicine Journal has an article that shows an association between maternal pesticide exposure and her ability to produce offspring. Their premise was that "animal experiments suggest that ingestion of pesticide mixtures at environmentally relevant concentrations decreases the number of live-born offspring. Whether the same is true in humans is unknown." So they performed a cohort study to get a glimpse of whether we may suffer a similar fate.
Their conclusion is as follows: "Higher consumption of high-pesticide residue fruits and vegetables was associated with lower probabilities of pregnancy and live birth following infertility treatment with ART. These data suggest that dietary pesticide exposure within the range of typical human exposure may be associated with adverse reproductive consequences."
My take on this article and the others that have preceded is this: we know that pesticides have negative effects on the environment, may be linked with cancer and now may be linked to infertility issues - why consume them? Bees are having colony collapse issues related to a few common pesticides, animals are struggling to procreate in these environments and so on.
Read the discussion in the article. It is excellent and necessary for all to understand.
Pesticides are bad stuff - period! Check out the pictures of the algal bloom in the Mississippi delta from the rivers pesticide runoff.
Go local and organic people where possible - our future may depend upon it.
Dr. M
Fertility Article
Algal Bloom
EPA Algal Bloom Site
Pictures Speak a Thousand Words
Pesticides and Colony Collapse Disorder
