Diet, Skincare, Health, & HIDDEN
“CAN YOUR DIET CONTROL YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM?” is the print title of a feature article in the prominent scientific journal, Nature. The article summary states, “Scientists are investigating links between what people eat and their immune responses, aiming to boost health and treat disease”. I thought, “Duh! Isn’t it obvious that what you eat and drink controls your health, including your immune system?” But I’m a Nutritional Biologist and Nutritional Biology is the study of how food impacts health, including the immune system.
Until very recently, what we called food was minimally processed plants and animals that evolved alongside us. Our digestive systems evolved to be able to efficiently and effectively extract, absorb, and use the nutrients from whole foods. Whole foods provide bioavailable nutrients; building blocks in forms and concentrations that your body knows how to use to grow and repair itself. However, in the last hundred years our definition of food and its constituents has evolved much faster than our digestive systems. Many products sold as food are synthetic, bioengineered, and ultra-processed and contain ingredients that affect our immune systems and destroy gut, skin, and overall health.
The Nature article notes that new technological developments have allowed us to study how food affects specific parts of the body, such as the immune system, and states, “The field is starting to attract attention and funding. In April, the New England Journal of Medicine launched a series of review articles on nutrition, immunity and disease, and in January, the US Department of Health and Human Services held its first-ever Food is Medicine summit in Washington DC, which explored links between food insecurity, diet and chronic diseases… Some researchers argue that modern diets, especially those of the Western world, have skewed our immune responses in ways that have undermined immune resilience. More optimistically, others say that diet could also help to treat a range of health problems, such as cancers and chronic immune disorders such as lupus.”
Studying the effects of diet on breast cancer, personally experiencing the effects of whole foods on managing my Sjogren’s and dysautonomia, and experiencing and witnessing the revitalising effects of skincare products made with whole foods on my skin and that of my clients, I whole-heartedly and optimistically believe in the power of whole foods for health. What you eat, drink, and put on your skin ideally should provide your body with the nutrients it needs to grow and repair, and nothing else. No added chemicals poisoning, polluting, and burdening your body, unnecessarily contributing to your allostatic load.
Women, moreso than men, have the added toxic burden of having to live up to the unattainable beauty “ideal” of looking young and flawless. Doing so garners admiration, opportunities, and financial and social safety. But it’s a harmful beauty “ideal” rooted in patriarchy, racism, white supremacy, and capitalism. Beauty brands exploit our vulnerability at the expense of our health. So, I offer an alternative.
Unfortunately, this learned but short-sighted and unsustainable survival mechanism is reinforced by society and passed down to children, especially girls. Children have more skin surface area relative to their body weight and their bodies are not fully developed to help process the barrage of toxic compounds present in most skincare and haircare products. And yet, in the US, anyone can put anything in a jar and legally sell it as skincare, and they frequently do.
Right now there's a recall on Dynacare baby powder because it’s contaminated with asbestos. Asbestos is a carcinogen and is commonly found with talc, something Johnson and Johnson (J&J) chose to keep from the public for decades while promoting their baby powder as being safe. Now J&J faces $9 billion in lawsuits from women who claim that their use of baby powder contaminated with asbestos caused cancer. J&J is seeking to resolve the claims through bankruptcy.
So, how are we supposed to know what’s safe and what’s not? The National Institutes of Health website suggests, “If you have questions about any personal care products, talk with your health care provider.” There are plenty of doctors willing to dish out affiliate links for their favorite skincare products, but, do they know what they’re recommending and how the ingredients in these products actually affect your health? Or are they just motivated by an easy way to earn passive income? Most recommend self-proclaimed and self-regulated “clean” beauty brands, such as Beauty Counter, Primally Pure, and Osea, whose marketing implies safety, until you read the ingredients lists and the caveats in the fine print. (For more, read my July 7, 2023 article, “Clean Beauty: As Safe As The Wild West” and my August 12, 2023 article, “The Dirt On ‘Clean’ Beauty”.)
For example, many “clean” beauty brands market their products as phthalate-free. Phthalates are endocrine-disrupting chemicals that have been linked to early puberty. Children who use lotions and other personal care products such as sunscreen, soaps and haircare items have been shown to have higher levels of toxic phthalates in their bodies. While phthalate-free products do not intentionally have phthalates added to them, they can still be contaminated by phthalates that leach from their containers. Glass containers reduce the risk of chemical leaching, which is one of the reasons I use glass packaging for the skincare products I make and sell.
If part of your holiday shopping involves buying skin and other personal care products, keep in mind that a synthetic form of fragrance called musk ambrette has been shown to be an endocrine-disrupting chemical that may trigger early puberty in girls.
If all of this is overwhelming and you don’t know who to trust, “Choosing Skincare for Health” (February 11, 2023) provides guidance. For additional help, feel free to contact me.
Finally, please shop the holiday sales and gift certificates offered by the vendors on HIDDEN, the Hidden Illness & Disability Directory of Entrepreneurs & Nurturers. Many of the women-owned businesses on HIDDEN provide resources, products, and services that fulfill the unique needs of those living with hidden illnesses and disabilities: advocating for medical care, coping with gaslighting, learning how to eat and cook with a chronic illness and/or disability, stress-reduction, skin care, and patient support groups.
Shopping HIDDEN not only supports people with hidden illnesses & disabilities, it also supports persevering individuals building meaningful and self-sustaining lives in spite of adversity. Spending your dollars on HIDDEN improves the financial, mental, and physical health of the business owners you support, and yours, too. Here’s to healthy, happy holidays.
A version of this blog post is published in my local newspaper, The Davis Enterprise.