It's crazy. When you think about all the different kinds of foods, we eat, we just swallow and hope it all works out for the best. Well, it turns out there are better ways to think about keeping our bodies humming healthfully along. Welcome to nutrition facts on your host. Dr. Michael Greger today. We take our recently decluttered Living Spaces, and try to clean them, without passing out from the harsh chemicals, and yes, we're talking about
Cleaning products. So what do we use? Here's our first story
household, cleaning products can be hazardous, Landing haunches, a thousands of children in u.s. Emergency rooms and the product most commonly associated with injury was bleach, which can be toxic. Even if used as directed. We've known that those with asthma who work with cleaning products day in and day out can suffer adverse respiratory effects of worsening of symptoms, declining lung function.
Flamed Airways, but even cleaning workers without asthma can be effective. Even below so-called acceptable exposure levels cleaners with or without reactive Airways can suffer substantial decrease in lung function. Okay, but that's people who clean for a living although we've known that occupational use of bleach may have adverse respiratory health effects. It was unknown, whether just common domestic use of bleach in the household, may put Long's at
Whisk, until now bleach use was significantly. Associated with nearly five times the odds non-allergic adult-onset Asthma as well as ongoing lower respiratory symptoms, such as chronic cough. The way bleach works is as such a strong pro-oxidant that the thought is that it can lead to like leaky Long's and allow allergens to penetrate this phenomenon of cleaning product induced. Asthma has been known for decades.
More than three-quarters of the dozens of population, studies, looking into it and found increased risk of asthma or nasal inflammation. Ideally safe for cleaning products should be available. Unfortunately, this body of evidence has been largely ignored by the manufacturers and commercial cleaning companies and most of workers put at risk. Our women. In fact that may help explain some of the gender differences and Asthma. The relatively high frequency of bleach used for home cleaning by women around.
Around the world together with a strong association between bleach use and not allergic. Asthma emphasizes. The need for reconsidering, the use of bleach for cleaning. There are natural, environmentally friendly cleaning products that may offer a safer alternative safer. Perhaps, but are they as effective? We didn't know until now, the effectiveness of three Home Products and cleaning and disinfection of staphylococcus. Aureus the
Tory that causes staph infections and E. Coli on home Environmental Services. The first report ever of the performance of performed Lee safer, alternative in the home setting, some individuals will select conventional products such as bleach, do to familiarity. It's a smell some associated with cleanliness other seeking less hazardous and environmentally preferable green organic natural disinfectant switch. You can buy or make yourself so called DIY do it yourself.
Recipes that typically involve ingredients like vinegar or club soda and plant essential oil such as tea tree oil prized for its antimicrobial qualities. So researchers pitted head-to-head Clorox bleach versus a natural disinfectant based on thymol, which is from time essential oil, versus a DIY recipe. Have club soda half white vinegar with a few drops of tea tree oil. You could probably buy the bleach for round 3 Box. The natural stuff from like 7 dollars.
But the DIY mix for less than a dollar. Yeah, but does it work on the bottle? It says, bleach can kill 99.9% of germs which is the EPA standard for the disinfection of surfaces that don't come into contact with food, like the bathroom sink or something. They claim 99% of germs, but when put to the test, the bleach actually killed, 99.9999% of germs, completely wiping out the E, coli and staph germs, which evening.
These the EPA standard for food, contact surfaces like the kitchen counter and so did the expensive natural stuff worked just as well as the bleach. But the club soda vinegar, tea tree oil concoction flopped allowing as many as a few percent of the staff bugs to thrive. Now. Maybe they didn't use enough of the tea tree oil, only adding about a drop perk up, but from a performance perspective, the environmentally preferable.
Like is an effective alternative to Conventional bleach and I would say even better since bleaches. Well known as a respiratory irritant and it's corrosive to and may end up damaging surfaces. What I would find interesting is to test how effective a cheap DIY time oil solution would be
in our next story. We find the reasons, the Centers for Disease, Control and prevention prohibit. Not only smoking, but also sent it or free.
Grens products in their building in a
recent review of the damaging effects of household cleaning products on the lungs. Researchers noted that the adverse respiratory effects of cleaning products were first. Observed in populations experiencing high levels of exposure at the workplace, such as cleaners, and health care workers with a primary focus on asthma. But the occupational use of disinfectants has also been linked to a higher risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has like emphysema
And now we know it's not just workplace exposures. But also common household exposures that are risk factors for respiratory disorders in childhood as well. Potentially an important risk factor for adult asthma. With common household cleaning spray use accounting. For as many as one in seven, adult. Asthma cases. The thought is that the inhalation of chemical irritants may cause injury of the Airways that leads to oxidative stress and inflammation. Okay. So what can we do about it?
Well, it may indeed be limited to sprays cleaning products not applied in spray form. Were not associated with asthma, and it's possible that environmentally friendly cleaning products. May represent a safer alternative though. They may still present some risk. Ideally see, for cleaning products should be available. Unfortunately, the research suggesting harm has seldom been heated by manufacturers vendors and commercial cleaning companies. I wonder how much of that is because most of the
Workers exposed to cleaning products, both occupationally and presumably domestically are women.
One of the problems maybe the fragrance. Chemicals one in three Americans surveyed reported health problems such as migraine headaches and respiratory difficulties when exposed to fragranced products and in about half it was so bad. They actually lost work over it results. From this study revealed that more than one-third of Americans suffer, adverse health effects, such as respiratory difficulties. In migraine headaches from exposure to fragrance products of all individuals half reported that
The effects can be disabling yet more than 99% of Americans are exposed of fragrance products. At least once a week, the effect on asthmatics. Maybe even worse affecting closer to two thirds one. Compound that may be of particular concern is called 014 dichlorobenzene. Also known as paradichlorobenzene, which is found in many air, freshener, toilet, bowl, deodorants and mothballs. It breaks down in the body into a
Compound called to five dichloro phenol, which you pee out giving researchers a reliable measure of your dichlorobenzene exposure. Not only make respiratory problems worse. For those already suffering from compromised are ways but exposure to that chlorobenzene, a blood levels found in the general US population. May result in reduced lung function and people who start out with normal breathing, what's worse, higher exposure was associated with greater prevalence of
Cardiovascular disease and cancer. That's not good. So better read the labels, right? Surprisingly. There is no law in the u.s. That requires the disclosure of all ingredients in fragrance consumer products. In fact for air, fresheners laundry supplies and cleaning products. They don't even need to say. It has fragrance at all. You don't know until you smell it. So if you can't tell which products, have which chemicals, you can,
Follow the lead of the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control and prevention. Not only is cigarette. Smoking indoors, prohibited at all times sent it, or fragrance, products are also prohibited at all times in all interior space owned, rented, or leased by the CDC. I wish Rideshare services, like, uber and Lyft would have a similar policy or at least a fragrance free option. But one in five or more than a thousand, Americans surveyed said, they would turn right around and leave a business. They
Smelled air, fresheners or some fragrance product. So it's in businesses, best interest to since more than 50% of the population would prefer that workplaces Healthcare facilities and their Healthcare professionals. Hotels and airplanes were fragrance free
finally. Today. We learn how volatile chemicals in consumer products such as air. Fresheners laundry, detergents, fabric, softeners, and dryer. Sheets may be hazardous in addition to meet exposure to Common.
Household, chemicals, May exacerbate, or induce allergies asthma and eczema researchers at Harvard and all around the world collected, air samples from where children slept and demonstrated. For the first time that the bedroom concentration of propylene, glycol and glycol. Ethers was significantly associated with an elevated risk of multiple. Allergic, symptoms, runny, nose and eczema. This class of chemical
compounds is
Down and
cleaning, fluids pain, pesticides PVC, pipes varnishes,
and maybe one of the reasons we've seen an increase in these kinds of diseases around the world. Over the last few decades recently researchers put a few consumer products to the test air. Fresheners laundry, detergent, fabric softener or dryer. Sheets each
with annual cell sales.
Over a hundred million dollars. Six products, nearly a hundred. Volatile chemicals that
Identified though. None were listed on the labels, usually just says something like fragrance.
And 10 of the
chemicals. They found are regulated as toxic or hazardous
with three officially
classified as hazardous air pollutants. For example, the fabric softener. They tested on the label. It just says biodegradable fabric, softening agents, and it even smells like mom when she leans in for goodnight kiss.
But this is what they really found including the carcinogenic hazardous air, pollutant acetaldehyde.
What about if you just stick to the naturally scented products
even
products advertised as green natural, organic emitted, as many hazardous chemicals, as standard ones, for example, a soap boasting, pure essential oils, and organic tea. Infusions also contained all of these. Yeah, but what if you somehow know for certain, it's all just natural like the limonene, right? That's a real.
Phytochemical found in real Citrus
until it photo oxidized with ozone and ambient here to form dangerous. Secondary pollutants, including formaldehyde
when it comes to Consumer products.
The best smell is no smell.
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