Bathing soaps can disrupt hormonal activities!

Washington, Dec 8 (UNI) Watch out! The bathing soap you use can affect your health by disrupting the normal hormonal activities.

Researchers from the University of California carried out a study and showed that a common antibacterial chemical added to cleansing materials like bathing soaps and body washes can alter hormonal activity in rats and in human cells in the laboratory, the Science Daily reported.

Chemicals known as endocrine disruptors, or Endocrine Disrupting Substances (EDS), have been linked in animal studies to a variety of problems, including cancer, reproductive failure and developmental anomalies.

The study is the first to investigate the hormone effects of the antibacterial compound triclocarban (also known as TCC or 3,4,4'-trichlorocarbanilide), which is widely used in household and personal care products including bar soaps, body washes, cleansing lotions, wipes and detergents.

''This finding may eventually lead to an explanation for some rises in some previously described reproductive problems that have been difficult to understand,'' one of the authors, Bill Lasley said.

The researchers found two key effects: In human cells in the laboratory, triclocarban increased gene expression that is normally regulated by testosterone.

And when male rats were fed triclocarban, testosterone-dependent organs such as the prostate gland grew abnormally large.

UNI