Potential link between social media & hormone-changing chemicals

Welcome back to mornings on two new research suggests social media is not just impacting teenagers mental health. It's also getting them to buy beauty related products that could be dangerous for their physical health. The lead author of this study comes from Rutgers University. She says some of the personal care products that are promoted online often include chemicals suspected of disrupting hormones. Joining us this morning to talk about the potential effects is a certified plastic surgeon, Dr. Smita Ramanatham. Good morning, doctor. Thank you for joining us. Hi, good morning. Thank you for having me. So what kinds of chemicals and ingredients is this study looking at and what should we be looking for? Yeah, so in this study in particular, they actually surveyed about 143 high schoolers to sort of see what beauty products they were using and how many. And it's pretty alarming based on social media views and influencers that they're following. They're using upwards of 30 to 40 percent more beauty products and 14 products on average per day, which is an insane amount without actually looking at the ingredients and the ingredients in particular that we, you know, have some link to hormone disruption are phenols, parabens, and even phthalates. So those are all ingredients that we need to be on the watch for. And unfortunately, a lot of our teens are not looking for those ingredients when they're looking at these products. Yeah. And we're kind of thinking about, you know, we have been reporting fragrances and makeups and we're looking at makeup, but it's not just makeup, right? The study looks at toothpaste, soap, everyday products. Were you surprised that some of these dangerous chemicals are in these just regular everyday products? Yeah. You know, of course, it is surprising that so many of these products can't contain these ingredients. And of course, these are all things that we're still looking at, right? We're not really sure what the concentrations are and what that means as far as absorption. I think further studies definitely need to be performed to check at maybe urine levels to see what we're actually absorbing and what a clinical effect, you know, when that might arise based on the concentration. But of course, it is alarming. It is something that we have to keep an eye open for and get those ingredients. Yeah. How dangerous are these chemicals? What happens when teens use product that are hormone disrupting? Yeah. So we have to remember, teens are oftentimes going through puberty. So they have rapid changes in their hormone levels during that time. And so any small level of possible disruption can interfere with that. And that's a critical time in our lives, right? And so there's still more studies that need to be done really to assess the safety of these ingredients and what levels they're safe and unsafe at. And I think that's something, you know, the FDA is certainly looking at and, you know, more research does need to be performed. Well, and it sounds like to me, like we're talking about teens and hormones and that time of life, but there's later in life, women are also dealing with hormones and these things could also impact us at really at any age, right? Of course, of course, we know that, you know, there's big hormonal changes during pregnancy, breastfeeding, menopause. And, you know, in general, these are ingredients that at certain levels should definitely be avoided no matter what your age is. And so that's why I think it's really important to sort of have an understanding of what safe ingredients are, what unsafe ingredients are, and to just continue to read those labels. Yeah. That was part of the alarming part of the study or not surprising to me as a parent, but that teens don't read labels, you know, they're, they're looking at these influencers and what, what I think as parents, we need to remind our kids, oftentimes these influencers are getting paid to promote this product. They haven't done any research, right? No, they're not doing research, right? A lot of times they're getting paid. And also we're not really sure if they're actually using those products, right? They're just using it through the posts that they're making. And a lot of these celebrities and influencers also have their own product lines, which become really popular with these teenagers as well. And so I think as a parent, it's really important for us to educate our teens and our children, because it's really starting in the preteen, preteen years, right? We saw this a few years ago, the Sephora boom with young girls buying makeup products. And frankly, their skin is healthy. You know, we don't want them to be using extra ingredients, even if it's not hormonally disruptive, but just anti-aging ingredients can be pretty harmful to their skin. What would you recommend as a doctor? Also, I know you're talking about educating our kids. What would you recommend for us to better prepare our kids and then also women through life, as far as looking at ingredients, what kind of products you should look at as far as clean ingredients? Yeah. No, I think clean ingredients really, it's really sort of making sure that your skin is getting what it needs at different age groups. And we know that as we age, our skin requires different things, especially as we start to lose collagen and elastin. And as we get older, our skin does get drier. So really just making sure that we're avoiding products with alcohol, a lot of fragrance. And then of course, those phenols and parabens we want to avoid, but, you know, just good moisturizing ingredients that are non-fragrance is just really kind of what you want to look for. And the children, the younger teenage group, we really want to focus on good skin health habits, right? And so that includes cleansing your skin, moisturizing, sunscreen, and sunscreen is, you know, I tell my patients the most important thing you can use on your face and your body the rest of your life or your entire life. It's very important every single day. Right. Sunscreen. I know I have a friend, a dermatologist, and she would say, you know, you just need to cleanse, moisturize, sunscreen. It's really very simple. All right. Very simple. Basic. Right. Basic. All right. Dr. Smita Ramadandan, thank you so much for joining us. Great information. Great advice. Thank you. Take care.