Why Choose Our Fertility-Friendly Skincare?

We are all exposed to toxins in today's world because of chemicals that are used in products that form part of our daily lives.

Toxin exposure can cause oxidation and this can cause damage to our cells. Multiple scientific studies over a prolonged period of time have shown this negatively impacting fertility in both men and women[1].

Endocrine disrupters 

Scientists have also known for decades that exposure to toxic chemicals can alter the level and activity of our natural hormones[2]. This can have significant impact on our fertility as well as our general health.

Skincare 

One source of these toxins is the products that we put on our skin. Most skincare products that we have access to today contain chemicals like parabens and phthalates. These chemicals are used as preservatives and fragrance enhancers.

Fragrance

Often, we won't know they're there, particularly because of a loophole that allows the ingredients contained within a product's fragrance to remain secret. You will see 'fragrance' or 'parfum' listed within the ingredients but within that fragrance can be a multitude of chemicals including phthalates. This makes it impossible for us to know what we're really putting on our bodies.

Scientific studies and evidence

Whilst our skin is an incredible organ, protecting us from injury and infection, it is proven that chemicals contained in the products we put on our skin are absorbed into the body, reaching our bloodstream and internal organs[3] and acting as hormone disrupters with the potential to harm our health and our fertility[4].

There is now a large body of evidence that the kinds of chemicals found in everyday products including our skincare harm the reproductive system[5]. This can include lower quality eggs[6], sperm[7] and embryos[8], and increased IVF implantation failure[9] and miscarriage rates[10]. Reducing your exposure to these chemicals is widely advised to protect and improve your fertility.

With World Health Organisation data showing 1 in 6 of the global adult population are affected by infertility[11], this can now be considered a major global health matter.

Steps to take

There are steps we can take to limit exposure. One of which is ensuring our skincare is free of toxins, harmful chemicals and other ingredients, the safety of which for fertility and during pregnancy is not known.

What we put on our skin matters.

[1] Auger J, Eustache F, Andersen AG, Irvine DS, Jorgensen N, Skakkebaek NE, Suominun J, Toppari J, Vierula M, Jouannet P: Sperm morphological defects related to environment, lifestyle and medical history of 1001 male partners of pregnant women from four European cities. Hum Reprod. 2001; 16: 2710-7. Armstrong JS, Rajasekaran M, Chamulitrat W, Gatti P, Hellstrom WJ, Sikka SC. Charaterization of reative oxygen species induced effects on human spermatozoa movement and energy metabolism. Free Radic. Biol. Med. 1999; 26: 869-80. 12. Kodama H, Yamaguchi R, Fukuda J, Kasai H, Tanaka T. Increased oxidative deoxyribonucleic acid damage in the spermatozoa of infertile male patients. Fertil. Steril. 1997; 68: 519-24. 13 Barroso G, Morshedi M, Oehninger S. Analysis of DNA fragmentation, plasma membrane translocation of phosphatidylserine and oxidative stress in human spermatozoa. Hum. Reprod. 000; 15: 1338-44. Mahfouz R, Sharma R, Thiyagarajan A, Kale V, Gupta S, Sabanegh E, Agarwal A. Semen characteristics and sperm DNA fragmentation in infertile men with low and high levels of seminal reactive oxygen species. Fertil Steril. 2010 Nov;94(6):2141-6. Agarwal A, Aponte-Mellado A, Premkumar BJ, Shaman A, Gupta S. The effects of oxidative stress on female reproduction: a review. Reprod Biol Endocrinol. 2012 Jun 29;10:49. Ruder EH, Hartman TJ, Goldman MB. Impact of oxidative stress on female fertility. Curr OpinObstet Gynecol. 2009 Jun;21(3):219-22. Al-Gubory KH, Fowler PA, Garrel C. The roles of cellular reactive oxygen species, oxidative stress and antioxidants in pregnancy outcomes. Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 2010; 42:1634-1650.

[2] Duty S. M., Singh N. P., Silva M. J., Barr D. D., Brock J. W., Ryan L., Herrick R. F., Christiani D. C., Hauser R. 2003b. The relationship between environmental exposures to phthalates and DNA damage in human sperm using the neutral comet assay. Environ. Health Perspect. 111, 1164-1169. ("In conclusion, this study represents the first human data to demonstrate that urinary MEP, at environmental levels, is associated with increased DNA damage in sperm.").

[3] Wittassek M, Koch HM, Angerer J, Bruning T. Assessing exposure to phthalates - the human biomonitoring approach. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2011;55:7-31. Koniecki D, Wang R, Moody RP, Zhu J. Phthalates in cosmetic and personal care products: concentrations and possible dermal exposure. Environ Res. 2011 Apr;111(3):329-36. ("Koniecki 2011"). Janjua NR, Mortensen GK, Andersson AM, Kongshoj B, Skakkebaek NE, Wulf HC. Systemic uptake of diethyl phthalate, dibutyl phthalate, and butyl paraben following whole-body topical application and reproductive and thyroid hormone levels in humans. Environ Sci Technol. 2007 Aug 1;41(15):5564-70.

[4] Anas MK, Suzuki C, Yoshioka K, Iwamura S. Effect of mono-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate on bovine oocyte maturation in vitro. ReprodToxicol. 2003 May-Jun;17(3):305-10; Ambruosi B, Uranio MF, Sardanelli AM, Pocar P, Martion NA, Paternoster MS, Amati F, Dell-Aquila ME. In vitro acute exposure to DEHP affects oocyte meiotic maturation, energy and oxidative stress parameters in a large animal model. PLoS One. 2011;6(11):e27452; Grossman D, Kalo D, Gendelman M, Roth X.Effect of di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and mono-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate on in vitro developmental competence of bovine oocytes. Cell Biol Toxicol. 2012 Dec;28(6):383-96. ("Grossman 2012"). Gupta RK, Singh JM, Leslie TC, Meachum S, Flaws JA, Yao HH. Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and mono-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate inhibit growth and reduce estradiol levels of antral follicles in vitro. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2010 Jan 15;242(2):224-30. ("Gupta 2010"). 

[5] Smith KW, Souter I, Dimitriadis I, Ehrlich S, Williams PL, Calafact AM, Hauser R. Urinary paraben concentrations and ovarian aging among women from a fertility center. Environ Health Perspect 2013 Aug;121:1299-1305. Meeker JD, Sathyanarayana S, Swan SH. Phthalates and other additives in plastics: human exposure and associated health outcomes. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2009 Jul 27;364(1526):2097-113. Hauser R, Calafat AM. Phthalates and human health. Occup Environ Med. 2005 Nov;62(11):806-18. Davis BJ, Maronpot RR, Heindell JJ. Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate suppresses estradiol and ovulation in cycling rats. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol1994;128:216-23. Hauser R, Gaskins AJ, Souter I, et al. Urinary phthalate metabolite concentrations and reproductive outcomes among women undergoing fertilization: results from the EARTH Study. Environ Health Perspect2016;124:831-9.

[6] Hauser R, Gaskins AJ, Souter I, et al. Urinary phthalate metabolite concentrations and reproductive outcomes among women undergoing fertilization: results from the EARTH Study. Environ Health Perspect2016;124:831-9. 

[7] Huang XF, Li Y, Gu YH, Liu M, Xu Y, Yuan Y, Sun F, Zhang HQ, Shi HJ. The effects of Di-(2-ethylhexyl)-phthalate exposure on fertilization and embryonic development in vitro and testicular genomic mutation in vivo. PLoS One. 2012;7(11):e50465. Pant N, Pant A, Shukla M, Mathur N, Gupta Y, Saxena D. Environmental and experimental exposure of phthalate esters: the toxicological consequence on human sperm. Hum Exp Toxicol. 2011 Jun;30(6):507-14.

[8] Hong YC, Park EY, Park MS, Ko JA, Oh SY, Kim H, Lee KH, Leem JH, Ha EH. Community level exposure to chemicals and oxidative stress in adult population. Toxicol. Lett. 2009;184(2):139-144; Ferguson KK, Loch-Caruso R, Meeker JD. Urinary phthalate metabolites in relation to biomarkers of inflammation and oxidative stress: NHANES 1999-2006. Environ Res. 2011 Jul:111(5):718-26. ("Ferguson 2011"). 

[9] Li R, Yu C, Gao  R, et al. Effects of DEHP on endometrial receptivity and embryo implantation in pregnant mice. J Hazard Mater 2012;241-242:231-40. 

[10] Toft G, Jonsson BA, Lindh CH, et al. Association between pregnancy loss and urinary phthalate levels around the time of conception. Environ Health Perspect2012;120:458-63.

[11] https://www.who.int/news/item/04-04-2023-1-in-6-people-globally-affected-by-infertility