The Better Baby Book (21 page)

Please do not take this as encouragement to experiment with pharmaceuticals while pregnant. The results could be disastrous for you and your children. Work with physicians and always choose near-zero-risk options that offer more benefits than risk. It's not worth risking birth defects—or even death—to have a healthier baby.

PART THREE

The Toxin Connection

9

How Mold Changes Your Pregnancy

Toxins cause health problems for everyone, but the problems are less severe for an adult than for a fetus. Adults have fully formed blood-brain barriers and mature immune systems. In the womb, a fetus is somewhat protected from toxins by the mother's ability to filter them, but some toxins get through, and babies aren't prepared to deal with them the way adults are.

There are so many toxins and pollutants that it's not useful to list each one—there are thousands. It's easier to understand the main categories of toxins, where they come from, what they do, and what you can do to keep them from affecting your pregnancy.

Toxins come from three main sources: your food, your environment, and inside your body. A shocking number of common ailments—some life-threatening—are the result of chronic exposure to low levels of toxins. Most people don't know this because they don't feel the effects soon enough to realize that the toxins are the cause of their health problems. Just like slowly dripping water can erode limestone, low levels of toxins erode health over time.

Toxins erode a fetus's health and neurological development much more quickly, however. Imagine water dripping slowly on soft soil instead of limestone. A fetus is more sensitive because it's growing so quickly. If a fetus is exposed to toxins that distort DNA—and many toxins do—the altered DNA is translated to all future cells that grow from the damaged cell. In an adult body, a poisoned cell is just one of billions of cells. An adult is able to flush that cell out of the body and continue normal operation. This is why it takes much more of a toxin to harm an adult than it does a fetus.

For an embryo or a fetus, the damaged cell is responsible for being the parent of billions of cells. If toxins have distorted the parent cell's DNA, all the billions of cells it produces through mitosis (cell division) can be distorted as well. This is why birth defects are so prevalent and why an unborn baby is much more susceptible to damage from toxins than an adult is. If the tiniest toxin comes into contact with the wrong cell during rapid fetal growth, the entire growth pattern can be derailed. This is why our plan protects your baby from as many toxins as possible.

Toxins in Food

There is a blurry line between foods that are simply bad for us and foods that are toxic. For instance, even a little too much sugar is bad for you because it causes harmful processes in the body, but sugar is not toxic. In contrast, fish is now often contaminated with mercury, and mercury is highly toxic. Fried foods are both bad for us and toxic. They contain oxidized oils that are stressful for the body to handle (bad for you), but the high temperatures used in frying overheat the starchy breading and create carcinogenic toxins called tricyclic amines.

Common toxins in food include artificial additives, preservatives, and colorings. In chapter 4, we explained which foods should be avoided because of toxins.

Mycotoxins are the most insidious and little-known food toxins. Fungi, like molds and yeasts, produce them for protection. Mycotoxins are common in crops because trace amounts of mold grew on the food and secreted mycotoxins long before the food was harvested. Governments often limit the concentration of a few mycotoxins in the food supply, but the limits aren't strict enough for optimal health. Some types of mycotoxins aren't regulated at all. Even though mycotoxins aren't commonly talked about, avoiding them is central to a healthy pregnancy.

Mycotoxins are extremely small molecules that are undetectable by the human immune system. This is what makes them so sinister—the body doesn't see them, so it doesn't fight them or eliminate them effectively. Mycotoxins are harmful to people in extremely small concentrations, measured in parts per billion. Because they're so small, they cross the placenta and reach your baby easily.

Poisoning from mycotoxins can be difficult to detect. Some mycotoxins produce symptoms right away, but others produce no symptoms until the condition is quite advanced. Exposure to mycotoxins over time can cause infertility and a number of pregnancy-related problems, including spontaneous abortion. Mycotoxins also contribute to cancer and even autism.

Grains are the most commonly contaminated foods. A recent study in Asia and Europe found that 58 percent of animal feed samples were contaminated. Sometimes dangerous levels are found in our food supply as well. Animal products like meat and milk can be contaminated because the animals are fed grains. These animal products often pose a higher mycotoxin risk than the grains we eat, because the mycotoxin controls on animal feed are much more lenient than the controls on the grains in our food supply. Mycotoxins are one of the reasons we recommend eating only products from 100 percent grass-fed or pastured animals. Pasture grasses are very low in mycotoxins.

Types of Mycotoxins

The major types of mycotoxins are aflatoxin, ergot alkaloids, fumonisin, trichothecenes, ochratoxin, and zearalenone. Each type occurs in certain climates and is prone to contaminating certain crops. To keep mycotoxins away from your baby, you should become familiar with the different types.

Aflatoxin

Ergot alkaloids

Fumonisin

Trichothecenes

Ochratoxin

Zearalenone

Locations of Mycotoxins

Mycotoxins are more prevalent in some parts of the world than others. The following list shows the percentage of animal feed samples contaminated, by region:

North America

South America

Northern Europe

Central Europe

Southern Europe

Middle East

Africa

North Asia

South Asia

Southeast Asia

Australia

Continental Europe and Australia pose the lowest overall risk, whereas South and Southeast Asia, South America, and Africa pose the largest threats. Note that the United States is widely exposed to mycotoxins. Different parts of the world are susceptible to different mycotoxins, so this list can help you find safe foods depending on where you are.

At the time of this writing, only three types of mycotoxins are regulated in the United States: aflatoxin, fumonisin, and trichothecenes. This means that the U.S. food supply is not rigorously tested for ochratoxin and zearalenone. Even though the United States has greater mycotoxin contamination than Europe, U.S. laws pay less heed to mycotoxins. While twenty parts per billion is standard for the human food supply in the United States, Europe has much tighter controls. Currently, Europe is striving for Codex Alimentarius (international food standards) import standards of only two parts per billion. We think the tighter controls in Europe are evidence that mycotoxins are a greater threat to health than many people realize.

Our bodies are so sensitive to mycotoxins that health problems result from concentrations lower than one hundred parts per billion. It rarely takes more, and it often takes much less. There's no known way to remove most mycotoxins from crops. Current controls can only prevent the molds from reaching the crops while they're growing, long before they reach feed mills or grocery stores.

Fortunately, there's a lot you can do to protect yourself from mycotoxins. Our diet (see chapters 4 and 5) is designed to help you avoid them. And when avoiding them isn't possible, you can use supplements like activated charcoal (see chapter 12), vitamin D3, and glutathione to remove them from the body.

10

Environmental Toxins

When most people think about environmental toxins these days, they think of the carbon dioxide level or oil spills. Although we're concerned about both of those for the good of the planet, they're unlikely to affect your unborn baby's cognitive development (unless you live near an oil spill). But there are many other types of environmental toxins that can affect a mother and fetus, even at low levels, including the following:

• Respiratory chain inhibitors: inhibit energy in cells
  
• Carcinogens: cause cancers
  
• Hormone disruptors: change sex characteristics in utero
  
• Neurotoxins: kill nerve cells
  
• Toxic metals (such as mercury, lead, arsenic, nickel, cadmium, and tin): linked to lower IQ and birth defects
  
• Environmental mycotoxins (such as airborne molds from water-damaged structures): have the same effects as other mycotoxins (see chapter 9)
  
• Electromagnetic fields: cause stress
  

In our daily lives, we're most commonly exposed to these environmental toxins through contact with these things:

• Petroleum products
  
• Plastics and the chemicals they contain
  
• Insecticides and household poisons, which can be hormone disruptors, neurotoxins, or respiratory chain inhibitors
  
• Household cleaning products, personal hygiene products, and cosmetics
  
• Flame retardants like PCBs
  
• Vehicle emissions near your home or office
  
• Volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), which are known to kill brain cells
  

In chapter 13 we'll deal with the toxins you're most likely to find in your home. Here we want to deal with the two most ubiquitous sources of environmental toxins: the air we breathe and the water we drink. Clean air and water are essential for a healthy pregnancy, but in many places, the air and water aren't so clean anymore. Industrialization creates an increasingly toxic environment around people in most countries. Here's a bit about our air and water and what you can do to keep them clean for your baby.

Air Pollutants

Breathing is the easiest way to be exposed to toxins. Factories, power plants, and automobiles constantly emit air contaminants like black carbon, particulate matter, and ozone. We usually don't notice, and we seem to go on living without any problems, but recent science has proven that air pollutants are present in concentrations that hurt us.

When a pregnant woman breathes polluted air, her baby is exposed to it as well. Today, women are exposed to polluted air like never before. Common air pollutants have been found throughout women's bodies, many of which pass through the placental barrier and threaten the baby. This happens in both urban and remote areas because Earth's air currents carry concentrated chemicals for thousands of miles. The pesticide DDT, used to control malaria in tropical regions, has been found high in the Swiss Alps. Flame-retardant chemicals used in temperate climates have been found in the arctic circle. Many of these pollutants resemble the body's natural hormones. The body mistakes them, and communication in the body is disrupted. Disruption can occur in concentrations far below the regulated “safe” levels and can cause infertility.

Scientists haven't measured the extent of the damage these pollutants do, and there's not really a recipe for avoiding them completely. But there are steps we can take to keep the pollutants away from our unborn babies.

If you live in an urban area, you can take measures to purify the air in your home, or at least purify the air in your bedroom. The air inside your house is the air you breathe the most, and the air in your bedroom accounts for one-third of the air you breathe in your lifetime (assuming you're in bed eight hours a night). HEPA air purifiers are a great way to improve the air in your home—they remove 99.97 percent of airborne particles more than three-tenths of a micrometer in diameter.

If you live near a large metropolis like New York City or Los Angeles, it's a good idea to check the smog report before exercising outside. Weather reports in metropolitan areas typically issue ozone alerts and air-quality assessments each morning. If the air-quality reports are consistently bad where you live, consider doing less intense exercise outside and save intense exercise for a controlled environment with pure air. You can also avoid walking, running, or biking along streets with heavy traffic.

Water Pollutants

This is one of the most important things we say in this book:
drink only purified water.
These days, water from various sources is contaminated with harmful chemicals that industry releases into the environment. Some of these chemicals, like chlorine and fluorine, are even added on purpose. Here's a closer look at our water supply.

Tap Water

In a recent U.S. geological survey, traces of pharmaceutical drugs were found in the tap water of thirty states. The concentrations were bioactive—that is, still high enough to have an effect inside the body. It was reported that forty-one million Americans are exposed. Ninety-five different prescription and over-the-counter drugs were tested for, and painkillers, tranquilizers, antidepressants, antibiotics, birth control pills, and chemotherapy agents were found. Some of the water samples contained more than twenty drugs.

How do these drugs get into our water supply? The biggest contributor is likely to be livestock. More than 40 percent of all antibiotics are fed to cattle, whose manure is collected and used to fertilize farmland, gardens, and lawns. Once dispersed, the antibiotics are washed into the soil and into underground water sources. People also flush unused drugs down the toilet when they clean out their medicine cabinets, and hospitals do the same when disposing of old drugs. Used drugs are also naturally excreted as human waste into the sewer system.

All of these drugs end up in the sewer system, where they're routed to water treatment facilities. Most of these facilities are not capable of purifying water of drugs, so the drugs remain in the “clean” water that's routed back to homes and to your sink. The amount of drugs released into our environment every year is estimated to be more than eight hundred million pounds!

Drugs aren't the only toxins in our water supply. Heavy-metal by-products from industrial waste are common (such as mercury and nickel). Perchlorate (rocket fuel) has also been found. In 2008, the Environmental Protection Agency chose not to regulate rocket fuel content in the water supply, claiming that twenty-four and a half parts per billion are safe. Other research estimates that one part per billion should be the limit.

For our modern industrial environment, regulations on water purity are lax and outdated. In a December 2009 article, the
New York Times
acknowledged that significant quantities of more than sixty thousand toxic chemicals are used within the United States alone. Yet the thirty-five-year-old Safe Drinking Water Act regulates a mere ninety-one contaminants. Even worse, a December 2009
New York Times
analysis of federal data concluded that in the last five years, more than 20 percent of U.S. water treatment systems have actually violated key provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act, as lax as it may be.

Some toxic chemicals are intentionally added to our water. Chlorine is added as a disinfectant in municipalities throughout the United States. Many people think chlorine makes water safe. On the contrary, chlorine is as harmful to you as it is to the microbes in the water. In adults, chlorine injures the proteins that make up our bodies and promotes allergies and asthma. Pregnant women who drink water contaminated with chlorine by-products are at a higher risk of having babies with birth defects and central nervous system defects.

Fluorine (fluoride) is another highly toxic yet popular additive. We talk about fluorine in the section on toothpaste in chapter 13. Fluorine is added to water supplies in many (but not all) municipalities around the nation. Its use is based on the disproven theory that fluoride builds strong teeth.

The effects of chemicals in tap water are becoming evident. A 2006 study found that men who drank more than the commonly recommended eight (eight-ounce) glasses of tap water per day had a 50 percent higher risk of developing bladder cancer. The study found that this held true whether the water was consumed straight from the tap or boiled to make coffee or tea.

Well Water

Water from private wells should be tested at least once a year. All of the same contaminants that get into municipal water supplies aren't far from your well, and some of them, like industrial waste and pharmaceutical drugs, make their way directly into the underground water that supplies your well.

Filtered Water

In our experience, small sink attachments and water filter pitchers like Pur and Brita just aren't that thorough. Today's contaminants are often far too small (at the molecular level) for these filters to protect your unborn baby.

Bottled Water

Most bottled water comes in plastic bottles. Plastic often contains BPA, a harmful chemical that leaches into the water when the bottle is exposed to heat or sunlight. The chances are high that bottled water products have been exposed to heat or sunlight during shipping. Even if you find water bottled in glass, be sure to check the source or choose water tested for contaminants—some bottled water is actually just tap water! If you're sure of the source and quality, clean water bottled in glass is a smart choice.

The Solution

Unfortunately, the solution to getting clean water is a bit expensive. You'll need one of two things: a reverse-osmosis (RO) water purification system or a high-end countertop filtration unit. The contaminants we discussed above are often extremely small (even for molecules), and it takes a high-end system to remove them. RO and countertop filtration with carbon are the only systems robust enough to do the job.

If you're confident that you'll be living in your current residence for a long time, investing in an RO system is worth it. RO systems usually involve a professional, permanent installation that alters the plumbing around your kitchen sink. Countertop water filters are cheaper and more portable (you can take them with you when you move). They usually involve only a minimal alteration and connection to your tap. They do a good job but aren't as thorough as the RO systems.

Your body needs plenty of water for a successful pregnancy—after all, you and your baby are made of more than 60 percent water. Contaminated water makes everything more difficult for father, mother, and baby, whereas clean water fosters healthy life and growth.

Electromagnetic Fields

Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) are produced by electric lines, cell phones, wireless devices, WiFi access points, microwave ovens, and pretty much anything powered with electricity. Here we explain how EMFs affect our bodies, where they come from, and what to do about them. There's convincing evidence that some EMFs are harmful. Since there's zero risk to reducing EMF levels, it's worth doing.

There's more than a century of medical research supporting the idea that our bodies are both chemical and electrical. Robert Becker, a physician formerly with the Veterans Administration in Syracuse, New York, who spent his career researching how the body relates to electricity, and demonstrated that the body's electrical fields help the stem cells in a growing fetus to “know” how to differentiate and become different types of cells. When we learned how easily cells responded to electrical fields, we thought it best to allow the natural electrical currents in Lana's body to influence the development of our children instead of the EMFs from the electronic devices around her.

Long-term exposure to EMFs has been linked to cancer, chromosome damage in babies, infertility, and miscarriage. Studies show that women exposed to EMF levels at levels commonly found near household wiring (1.6 microtesla or greater) were nearly twice as likely to miscarry as women not exposed to such strong fields. Minor reactions include headaches, dizziness, insomnia, fatigue, and depression.

One of Lana's medical associates, Dietrich Klinghardt, M.D., in Seattle, Washington, is known widely for his treatment of autism and other neurological conditions. Dr. Klinghardt is convinced that EMF exposure is tied directly to autism, and he even performed a small study in 2007 that showed that autism can be predicted based on the EMF levels of a pregnant mother's sleeping quarters. He concluded that pregnant women who sleep in areas with strong EMFs have children who are more likely to have neurological abnormalities, including autism, hyperactivity, and learning disorders.

In March 2008, a study was conducted in three Minnesota schools. In some classrooms, special filters were installed that reduced EMFs by more than 90 percent. Teachers filled out daily questionnaires about how they felt and about student behavior. In the reduced-EMF areas, teachers reported fewer headaches, asthma symptoms, and skin irritations. They felt more energetic and experienced less depression and anxiety, and elementary and middle school student behavior improved.

CAT scans, MRIs, ultrasounds, and X-rays expose people to significant EMF radiation. CAT scans present the highest risk, at 40 to 100 times the radiation of conventional X-rays. Ultrasounds of unborn babies are now routine. In May 2002, a study concluded, “There may be a relation between prenatal ultrasound exposure and adverse outcome.” The observed effects of ultrasounds on a fetus have included growth restriction, delayed speech, dyslexia, damage to nerve myelin sheaths, and irreversible loss of brain cells.

Even so, most fetuses are exposed to ultrasounds and are still okay—but since our goal was maximum health, not just okay health, we chose to minimize the number of ultrasounds in each of our pregnancies, keeping it to one in the first trimester and one in the second. The first confirms that it is a normal pregnancy, and the second checks that all organs and limbs have formed properly.

If you are asked to have an ultrasound, we think it's smart to ask your provider, “What's the benefit?” The reasons for getting an ultrasound are usually weak, such as it being “routine” or “to help you bond with your baby.” You'll bond with your baby anyway—mothers were bonding with their babies for thousands of years before the ultrasound was invented. The risk of a single ultrasound is low, but the risk of repeated ones is higher.