Endocrine Disruptors with Dr. DeSilva and Jackie Rogers
"Start to pay attention to the air, to the water, to your environment, to your body, to everything about you that you can improve, make those little changes because those...
INTRODUCTION: Welcome to podcast where we talk about all things health and wellness related, including hormones, pharmaceuticals, health trends and ways you can help better your life.
JP: Hi everyone! Thank you for taking time out of your day to listen in. Today I am joined by Dr. Derrick DeSilva and Jackie Rogers. Dr. DeSilva is a world-renowned doctor and scientist. He has been seeing patients for the past 30+ years as a Dr. of Internal Medicine. He was voted “one of the best doctors” by New York Magazine, has been seen sharing his expertise on CNN, ABC's Nightline, Larry King Live, "Extra", is the host of Health Matters, and the medical correspondent for News12 NJ. Jackie’s extensive experience in the fashion, beauty and marketing industries allows her to intimately understand the power of looking and feeling your best, and how it can transform the way you think about yourself. Over the years, she helped countless women and men discover their confidence through style. She dreamed of expanding her work into the beauty industry to create an exceptional, clean skincare line that she could wholeheartedly recommend to family, friends and clients. Well, hello, Jackie and Dr. DeSilva. Thank you so much for joining me today.
DD: You're very welcome.
JR: Thank you.
DD: Thanks for the invitation.
JP: Absolutely. So, today we are going to be talking about endocrine disruptors and I want to take this back to the very basics. So, what exactly is your endocrine system?
DD: Well, the endocrine system is a system, it's a glandular system, in the body, right? It, it is the thyroid, it is the ovaries, it's the adrenal glands, the pituitary gland, all of those glands, if you will, within the body are the ones that control and make up the endocrine system.
JP: Ok. That's a lot. It sounds like that could be a hard thing to balance.
DD: Well, you know, something that is a really good point, what you just said, balancing that system is, is important and if one of the organs is out of balance, for example, if the thyroid is out of balance, what you're going to do is you're going to throw off everything else. In a woman is going to throw off all her hormones, in a man that can also throw off his hormones. So, you're absolutely correct. If one system gets disrupted, it is going to disrupt the entire program. So, making sure that everything is balanced becomes really important.
JP: Does your gut health also contribute to your endocrine system?
DD: You're getting way too smart for me. You and Jackie are getting way too smart for me, okay. You, you've been hanging around too many people like me for, for too long. That's the problem.
JR: Well, you have the gift of explaining it so easily that we understand it. People that don't, you know, they're not in the profession.
DD: You know, it's, but that's a great question.
JP: Well, and gut health is so I feel like talked about these days it's becoming so normalized, but I feel like there's so many that still don't understand your gut health and how to heal your gut.
DD: You're absolutely correct, Jennifer, it's the gut, it's called the second brain, right? That gut is called the second brain. And serotonin, the neurotransmitter, serotonin, dopamine, all of those neurotransmitters. Everybody thinks it's made in the brain. No, it's made in the gut. 160-70% of the neurotransmitters are made in the gut and if you don't have the right flora, if you don't have the right bacteria, what's going to happen is, is that your system, as you said, again, the ability to produce these good hormones are not going to be done. So, fixing the gut first becomes paramount.
JP: Ok. So, what does it mean to have a disruption in your endocrine system? And what can be the cause of that?
DD: There are lots of things and one of the things that I think a lot of people forget is that everything, it, it's all of the epigenetic, it's the environmental factors that affect our DNA can affect what's going on in our system. So if you're drinking bad water, if you are not eating the right food, you're eating too many sugars, you're applying the toxins and the chemicals to your skin. And this is what really starts this whole process. The average man uses over 70 different toxic chemicals on his skin every single day. Deodorant, a shampoo, hair sprays, shaving cream and, and different other products. The average woman uses in excess of 120 different chemicals on her skin every single day. So these are the toxins. These are the chemicals that can disrupt the endocrine system. And I tell my patients this all the time, anybody, anybody, any man or woman that has any kind of a thyroid issue, you have got to make sure that you're using the right skin care. It is so important. It is so incredibly important that you don't keep putting these toxins in your system that are damaging the thyroid.
JP: That is so interesting. So I got diagnosed with like hypothyroidism, my T3 was really low, but my provider never said anything about that. So, is it just something that providers aren't aware of? Are they just not being educated in this or what is the issue there?
DD: I, I think it's what you just said, I think it's education, they're not aware, I mean, how many people are aware of what's in their skincare?
JR: Or how it makes a difference or how it matters. I mean don't forget about our pesticides that are on the food. You know, that's another one that we're seeing when clients come in and talk to us or customers email us. Those are things that are also big in our systems. But the skincare, I don't know, you know, Jennifer, you and I together, I guarantee you that we are using well over 120 toxic chemicals on our skin, you know, hair, shampoo, conditioner, hair spray, you know, facial things. Um, SPF I mean, you know, we're bombarded all day long. So I think what you're saying and getting the message out is, is so important to providers, right?
DD: It, it's awareness and that's why you're doing programs like this, this is why these podcasts and things like this are so important.
JP: Yes, just promoting the knowledge. What are some symptoms that, you know, you can experience if you have an endocrine disruption?
DD: Well, let's just start with the thyroid. You know, what, what are some of the symptoms of an under active thyroid? You know, and typically what I will see and this is not something that happens in a week, right? This is something that happens over decades because the toxins that will accumulate in our system don't disrupt the system immediately. It takes a period of time and in some instances, it can take decades. So what are some of the things that we see? Why do we have and I'll throw the question back to you and Jackie, why do we have this abundance, this preponderance of thyroid problems? And you just said your thyroid is under active. You are a young woman. I, I won't tell you, but I don't know how old you -
JP: I’m 29
DD: , you're a baby, you know. And already, already, what did you say? You're 28?
JP: 29
DD: Ok, 29, already your system is being disrupted by an environmental issue that is affecting your thyroid. So it's taken 20 years, it's taken 15 to 20 years. What are you seeing? What did you see? You tell me what symptoms did you have? I know what you had. Well, let me tell you, you were tired -
JP: All the time
DD: All the time. You were probably gaining a little bit of weight. You were losing your hair, you had problems being cold all the time. You were constipated and you just couldn't function. You would just, you were just, you got a good night's sleep. You wake up in the morning and you still say I want to go back to bed.
JP: And then at 2 p.m. like ready to crash.
DD: Forget it, forget it. When I say losing your hair, what I mean is one of the first things you have to look at is the ends of your eyebrows. Are you losing the ends of your eyebrows? Are your eyebrows, are your eyelashes, are you losing them? Because when people say hair loss, the first thing you think about is your scalp but their hair, you know, but that's one of the first signs. So that's typically what you're going to see and feel.
JP: The more, you know, learn something new every day. So what does it mean for a product to have clean ingredients? What does the clean mean?
JR: Plant based, you know, nothing from, nothing petroleum based, you know, even though something is made in the, in a lab, it can still be from a plant source. So that's really what a clean ingredient is. Nothing that comes from, you know, except petroleum or animal, you know, fats and things like that. Yeah, and not that animal fats are necessarily bad, but you really don't want them on your skin.
DD: But here's the thing to answer your question also when we say clean and I have looked at over the years and I'll tell you something, you know, I've been doing this a long time, Jennifer, I've been doing this a really long time. Many, many years ago, I was approached by a company to be their medical director for skin for their skin care line. And I said no, because I was like, yeah, I had no interest in doing this at the time. Recently, what I started to see and as I started to get more into this was people say that their skin care line is clean and, and we've come across this all the time. And then Jackie looks at the ingredient deck. We have our aesthetician look at the ingredient deck. I look at the ingredient deck and I say clean?
JR: Right.
DD: Seriously?
JR: And let me add, you know, plastic is another big ingredient in the skin care. You know, it, it come the source is vinyl and you'll see, um, you know, propylene Glycol, you'll see things that are in antifreeze that are in skin care. So there's a lot of additives and fragrances can also have formaldehyde, which doesn't have to be listed on the ingredient label. So this is the cosmetic industry is an unregulated industry. And I think a lot of people don't realize that I think they think, oh, well, you know, the FDA must be involved somewhere. So they kind of don't even let it cross their minds perhaps, you know, but there's also a lot of green washing going on and that's what we refer to it as, as greenwashing, where the bottle and the perception says it's green. But when you look down and read the ingredients, they're really, really not clean.
JP: It's almost a marketing scheme.
JR: It is, it is, it, it really is. And that's why I think savvy individuals are starting to catch on and, and bring awareness like yourself to say truly, what, what am I putting on my skin? What am I taking into my system?
DD: And again, as Jackie said, the last regulation in skincare, in the cosmetic industry was in 1938.
JP: What?
DD: Yeah.
JR: It's a self regulated industry. So you can technically put anything you want into the, into the product. And there are a lot of, you know, a lot of the major brands, out there are doing just that, you know, a while back when I first started House of Hilt, it hit me right in the face because the first ingredient was vinyl. I mean, they weren't even hiding it with like some other kind of chemical compound name. It was vinyl. That’s what prompted me to start House of Hilt.
JP: That is insane.
JR: It is. it is.
DD: It is. And again, people don't know this and this is not just the consumers that don't know this, this is these are professionals, physicians and here's what's shocking to me. When I spoke at the last AMMG meeting which was in April of this year 2022. This was when I did a presentation for the aestheticians that in the room. Do you know something? The aestheticians, the skin care professionals don't know this stuff. Some of the dermatologists don't know this. Definitely the plastic surgeons don't know it, right? And I'm not bashing these, these folks, what I'm saying is is that they are just not aware. So we've got to raise the level of awareness.
JP: When there's not the education out there telling these people. Then I mean, unless they're just going out and looking for it on their own.
JR: You're right. Then how do you know? I mean, we've been, we've been meeting with a lot of doctors offices and OBGYNs and people that, you know, in the profession that are starting to be more aware and care and the folks that come to the shows are definitely on the forefront of keeping people well and not just treating, you know, treating sick, right? So that's what is music to I think to our ears is that when people are starting to pay attention.
JP: Well, and I think all like functional medicine clinics are becoming more of a normal thing and I feel like they're becoming more abundant, which I feel like that's kind of helping because they're teaching a more naturalistic lifestyle. So we're not pushing all of that. But on another note, what does toxin free and filler free mean? Because I see that also on the label with the clean ingredients. So what does that mean?
JR: So toxin free means there is nothing in there that is toxic to your system.
JP: Ok.
JR: And filler free means there are no fillers in there, so no filler ingredients. So what happens with other products is that they'll put in things like dimethicone or something like that. It'll give you a it'll bind and fill the jar, you know, to make something a little bit more, it'll suspend any fabulous ingredients that you have put in. So someone can say, oh I've put in lavender and I've put in, you know, some other things and these are all amazing ingredients for your skin, but the minute they put in something that's a binder or a filler, it'll never penetrate your skin. So with House of Hilt, we are filler free because all of the amazing ingredients that we have from mother nature will actually go into your skin and it'll absorb it properly because it knows what to do with the ingredients, right? Natural. I mean, we're, we're natural, right? We're organic. So our bodies know how to receive it and they know what to do with it.
DD: And two things there, two things there, Jennifer, when you say toxin free, what that means is there are no endocrine disruptors. That's number one. There's nothing in there that's going to disrupt the endocrine system. Number one. The other thing is, is that what Jackie just said, our body knows what to do with a plant, right? Our body knows how to process a plant. Our body does not know how to process the plastic on my glasses. It's the vinyl. Yeah, it's, it's all the polymers, the cross polymers and all of that stuff that's in there. So that's what we want to look for. And that's what has been Jackie's mission and that's why I said, you know what? Yes, I'm happy to work with you because if this is your mission. And believe me, the little story here. I, you know, I said, why don't do, let's use this and let's, and she would look at me and say no, we can't. So she keeps me honest, you know, through this whole thing because sometimes I want to say, well, no, but it isn't. She said no, no, we're not doing it and, and, and I do the same thing. I do the same thing and that's what this relationship is all about is doing the right thing for people that are going to give them the right result.
JR: And results is what we are getting. I mean, we have, I just got a customer of ours, Gloria, she had just sent me a text that she went to see a dermatologist for the first time at 72 years old and the dermatologist said, what are you using on your skin? I can't do anything to improve it. Tell me what you have. So she's trying to set up a meeting for us with her dermatologist.
JP: That's amazing. What a compliment.
JR: It is. It is. I mean, we've got all five star reviews on our website for the product, but it really does work as doctor said, you know, mother nature knows what to do and we know how to absorb her. So -
JP: Yeah, well, and not just that, but I feel like if you're using a product that's filler free compared to something that’s not you're getting more bang for your buck if you're actually using product, that will work.
JR: Very true.
JP: You only have to use one pump of this compared to 10 pumps of this one.
JR: It really is. You’re so right.
DD: Okay, I'm done. You two can do the show. I'm out of here.
JP: So, Jackie, what drove you to create a clean skincare brand?
JR: Just what I said. I had suffered with really bad skin. I was over 40 -
DD: You are?
JR: Yeah.
JP: I would never believe it.
JR: But I had terrible skin and I, and I was, you know, buying everything from the drug store to, you know, fancy department store product. And when I had gone to our in house aesthetician, her, you know, she, her name is Jenny, she works at House of Hilt and she was saying, you know, this is all product like what are you using? And I said, well, I'm using this and this and she said, oh, it's, it's full of junk. You know, Jenny, knew far and earlier than I did about all of the toxic skin care. So she had put me on a, a more natural path, but I still didn't find things that I really loved and so combine that with, you know, the type of person I am I thought, well, you know what, I'm gonna do something about it. I've always wanted to be in that, in this industry in some way, shape or form. So I decided to create a product line and that's where when I was doing my business plan, I was thinking, well, you know, what do I want to be in this business, in this industry? And I said, well, there needs to be honesty and then there needs to be integrity, I have integrity and, you know, there's trust and loyalty and, and then the words kind of form to hilt. So that's an acronym for honesty, integrity. loyalty and trust and that's what House of Hilt stands for.
JP: Wow, that's amazing. I love that. I never knew that. I was gonna ask you actually what it meant, so I'm happy you said that. What ingredients are in most skincare products that you can buy from the drug store, beauty shops, whatever that can cause issues?
JR: You know, again, as doc had pointed out anything with plastic or polymers in a co polymers is going to give you an issue over time.
DD: Propylene glycol is basically antifreeze. There's a lot of - when it comes to ingredients and then this is what I tell people whether you're looking at supplements, whether you're looking at skin care, find a company that you trust and ask them the questions because if you start jumping around to 15 different companies, you have no idea what you're getting, you have no idea what you're getting, what's in there, find a company that you like get the products from them and and I'll tell you that's really the way I've always told my patients and even my own patients. I tell them if you don't like something, then find a different alternative. So that's what I will say to you. Look at the ingredients, don't look at the first two ingredients, look at the ingredients in the middle and the end. So, I don't know if you wanna just talk about -
JR: and, and there are so many websites that people can look to and, and there's apps out there if they want to look for a clean product, you know, the EWG is a really good resource for finding that and Paula's Choice is another one that's really good for finding ingredients. If you have people that are really looking for what, you know, what are the definitions. But quite honestly, Jennifer, you could just look at an ingredient and Google it. So there's so much out there that you'll see acrylic acrylate. I'm sorry that are in acrylic nails that's in product. So, you know, you, you really, I'd be interested to see if anybody watching now picks up their shampoo or picks up their skin care and says, oh -
JP: I'm 100% going to
JR: Yeah, I need to make a change because you'll notice. It's not easy.
JP: I know you mentioned this earlier, fragrance additive and fragrances. What I'll just let you take the reins there.
JR: Yeah, fragrance and unless you want to -
DD: No, no, no
JR: Fragrance is one of those things that I had mentioned that does not have to be listed on the ingredient deck because they could, they could blanket it with, it's a proprietary ingredient or something of that. So anytime you see perfume or something, you know, with the fragrance, it could have formaldehyde and 25 plus other different ingredients, toxic chemicals.
JP: Wow
DD: And that, that's why I'm so glad you mentioned that because that was the other thing I was going to mention to you was it just has to say fragrances, Jackie just said list on the label. Inside that they could lift, they can put in whatever they want, and it does not have to be disclosed on the label and this is where House of Hilt doesn't use fragrances. What is used are the right ingredients to make sure that this is not going to produce a problem.
JR: Right, right. I mean we use essential oils, we use herbs, things like that to make our infusions. You know, that's the powerhouse in the product.
JP: I'd rather things not smell like anything compared to what some things smell like because some of it is so strong and just gross.
DD: Right.
JR: It is, you know, when you think about another thing that I just want to mention to people is the candles and also those little devices you plug in, those oils are so toxic to your system. So anything like that is also a huge disruptor that people I don't think are aware of.
JP: Have there been studies done on like the long-term effects of using these type of products or?
DD: Yes, yes, these are the endocrine disruptors. Absolutely. There are very long-term studies that have been done on all of these substances. And in fact, my power point that I have that I present all of this information. Every single slide is referenced. There's a reference on these ingredients and the disruption if you will that they cause within our system. You know, whenever I present data at a conference, I can't just say, well, there's endocrine disruptors and it messes up your thyroid. It doesn't work that way. I need to have a reference to validate the statement that I'm saying. Right. So yes, to answer your question is absolutely yes.
JP: Interesting. I might get those links from you and I can put those down in the podcast for anybody that's interested. You can go and read those for yourself.
DD: Sure. Absolutely.
JP: I think raw data is just, I mean, you can't argue with it.
JR: You can’t argue with the numbers, you’re right.
JP: Well, those are all the questions that I have. Is there anything additional you all would like to add?
JR: Well, I'd like to say thank you, Jennifer and Qualgen for bringing awareness to this topic. It is so important, I think for all of your providers and that they understand, you know, this is what people are educating themselves on now. So, people are more aware of it. So I think it's a wonderful service that you're providing. So, thank you.
DD: And I also want to say thank you, Jennifer, and I think for the people that are watching this, it is time for you to wake up. Don't take things for granted. Look at your ingredients again, whether it's your vitamins, whether it's your skin care, start paying attention, even start paying attention to the simple things like the air you breathe. You know, as Jackie said, those plug-in things in the home, the candles, stop that stuff. If you want, open your doors and windows for five minutes, a couple of times a week to just recirculate the air in your home, whether it be the middle of the summer or the middle of the winter, it's important that you do that and start to pay attention to the air, to the water, to your environment, to your body, to everything about you that you can improve, make those little changes because those little changes become additive and they become big changes to improve the quality of your life.
JP: Absolutely. I'm just so happy that you all joined, this information, I feel like is crucial to everybody and I feel like it just opens the door and then. If somebody does feel overwhelmed with where to start, what would you recommend doing?
DD: Well, I I think just like everybody else does take the time, spend the time, look at your ingredients and where you start is by doing your own homework. Just look at the ingredients. Just go, there's so much information out there. You can go to, what was that? What was it?
JR: EWG and Paula’s Choice
DD: EWG and Paula’s Choice. Those are two great websites to visit.
JR: If you want to know more about your ingredients in your, in your skincare -
DD: and then check out the ingredients on House of Hilt. I mean, you, you can look at the ingredients there too, you know it, go there, go to the website, check out the ingredients and -
JR: Take your skin to the hilt. We always say that. Yes. Yes, it's true. It's true.
JP: Well, perfect. Well, thank you so much for joining me. If you would like to learn more or purchase any House of Hilt products, please visit their website at houseofhilt.com – you can also find them on Facebook and Instagram and House of Hilt. So thank you again, Dr. DeSilva and Jackie, I've enjoyed it.
JR: Thank you.
DD: Thank you very much Jennifer. Have a great day.
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