Product Description

Undetected intruders are lurking in your homes, creating havoc with our bodies' hormones and affecting our health, intelligence, fertility, and behavior. These "intruders" are hormone disruptors--chemicals from common foods and household items that masquerade as hormones--that can throw off the balance of our delicate signaling system. In Hormone Deception, Lindsey Berkson clearly explains where hormone disruptors come from and how they affect adults, children, and the unborn child. She also gives easy, practical tips for protecting home and family, such as vacuuming frequently and using water filters. She discusses the effects of common synthetic hormones such as birth control pills, hormone replacement therapy, and fertility drugs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #75987 in eBooks
• Published on: 2001-04-05
• Released on: 2001-04-05
• Format: Kindle Book
• Number of items: 1

From Library Journal
Dust we track home, steam from showers and dishwashers, and plastic wrappings for meat and cheese all send manmade hormone-disrupting chemicals into our bodies. The extent to which this exposure affects human health is unknown, but evidence suggests that it may be responsible for recent worldwide increases in health problems, including breast cancer and declining sperm counts. This accessible, extensively researched handbook gives the reader information to respond to this new reality. Berkson (bioenvironmental science, Tulane Univ.), the author of several books on natural healing, provides background on how hormones work in our bodies, discusses the known and suspected effects of hormone-disrupting chemicals, and offers practical advice on avoiding exposure and on detoxifying oneself. Charts of chemicals, a list of organizational resources, and a room-by-room tour of the potential hazards in a typical house are featured. Based on scientific studies and communications with experts in the field, this book is recommended for public and academic libraries.
-Noemie Maxwell Vassilakis, Seattle Midwifery Sch.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
When her mother was pregnant with Berkson...the obstetrician administered diethylstilbestrol (DES) to prevent miscarriage. Although some negative information about DES was known at that time, most doctors felt it was as safe as smoking. Berkson draws women's and doctors' attention to all the questions about hormones and other chemicals that remain unanswered or whose answers aren't widely known or heeded. Her main thesis is that chemicals from inside the body are safe whereas those from outside can be questionable or sometimes dangerous and even deceptive, causing the body to respond to them as if they were hormones. Berkson has collected a vast amount of material. She explains it clearly, discriminating suppositions from hard data. She urges further research, pointing out, however, that a major deterrent to it is the attitude that "a man-made chemical is considered innocent until proven guilty." William Beatty
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From the Back Cover
Experts proclaim Hormone Deception a must-read:

"In Hormone Deception, Lindsey Berkson makes a compelling case for another reason to avoid a diet rich in animal fats, as these are most likely to contain hormone disruptors. Highly recommended."
--Dean Ornish, M.D., author of Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease and Love and Survival

"A wake-up call for the twenty-first century similar to Rachel Carson's Silent Spring! This book is absolutely essential reading for everyone who wants to reduce their exposure to the unsuspected new breed of toxins in everyday life--hormone disruptors."
--Ann Louise Gittleman, N.D., C.N.S., author of Eat Fat, Lose Weight and The Fat-Flush Diet

Undetected intruders are lurking in our homes and affecting our health, intelligence, fertility, and even behavior. These "intruders" are hormone disruptors--substances from everyday foods and products that masquerade as hormones and deceive our bodies' delicate hormonal signaling systems.

In Hormone Deception, Lindsey Berkson reveals where hormone disruptors come from and how they affect adults, kids, and unborn children. And she provides hope for better health with easy, practical ways to minimize your family's exposure to these dangerous substances.

In Hormone Deception, you will learn:

• How hormonal messages from outside our bodies may be playing a vital role in our children's behavior, our fertility, and our overall health
• The danger areas of a typical home and how to reduce the presence of hormone disruptors in those areas
• Common foods and household products that have the highest and lowest amounts of hormone disruptors
• Why scientists do not microwave food in plastic containers or with plastic cling wrap

Customer Reviews

Empower yourself: learn about our surroundings!
This was a hard book to put down. Scientifically oriented, yet written in simple language for all of us "non-scientists" to understand, it's reader friendly. This book applies to our everyday life. We already know many things cause cancer and other diseases, but to finally have a book that tells us what THOSE things are, empowers us to make a change. We've heard our water might be contaminated, well Dr. Berkson will tell you why and what exactly is in it that makes it bad. We've heard to be cautious of dry-cleaning gas off, and she'll cover that, she talks about heating our food in plastic trays and plastic wrap in the microwave, dangers in baby toys, baby foods, our soda cans and cans in general. She talks from a hormone point of view: in parts per billion (which is like a pinch of salt in 10 tons of potatos, her words, not mine) when referring to the sensitivity of these hormones. She warns us of estrogenic invaders, androgenic invaders, hormone blockers and such, that are in our environment in the form of air, food, cleaning products, water pollution and how these interfere with our bodies. The best part: she tells us how to reduce our exposure, what we can do about it by just being aware.

Hormone Deception
I read this book based on the recommendation of another parent in my young daughter's day care center. I found Hormone Deception just brimming with information regarding keeping ourselves and our families healthy. I was especially interested in how hormone disruptors impact our children and truly appreciated all the good advice on how to reduce exposure in the home. I never knew our homes were such potential health hazards! I heartily recommend this book to all moms concerned with keeping their families healthy. Lindsey Berkson has also developed a fantastic website full of related information and links to other bio-environmentally appropriate sites (same name as the book, hormonedeception.com).

Practical and Accessible
I thought this book was interesting and easy to follow. Ms. Berkson, gives us the information and practical advice on how to avoid exposure to these psuedo-hormones that disrupt the body.

The print is an easy size to read.