The Truth About Endocrine-Disrupting Receipts

[01dragonslayer]

by Chris Shugart​

Poison Paper?​

Most receipts contain chemicals that disrupt your hormone levels. Is that something to worry about? Here's what you need to know.​

You've decided to improve your metabolic health. Smart, but now you have a lot more decisions to make. What will you change about your training, diet, and lifestyle? What's worth the investment?

Maybe you decide to get more sleep. That's worth it. How about avoiding seed oils? Probably worth it. Installing an ice bath and starting your day with a revivifying dunk? Maybe worth it, maybe not. It's a big investment of time, money, and discomfort.

Here's a minor investment that many claim improves your health: don't touch the receipts you get from stores. Sounds weird, right? Let's check out the claims.

Receipts: Endocrine-Disrupting Devil Paper?​

Along with paper, receipts are made from chemicals, including a synthetic chemical called BPA (Bisphenol A) or its cousin, Bisphenol S (BPS). For thermal receipts and tickets, BPA is used in the heat-sensitive coating. These coatings allow the paper to react to heat for printing without using ink.

But BPA is a known endocrine disruptor: it interferes with your hormonal system by mimicking the structure and function of estrogen, potentially affecting biological processes even at low exposure levels.

When you handle thermal paper receipts, BPA is absorbed through the skin. Repeated exposure could result in these chemicals accumulating in your body.

What happens then? Metabolic disorders, cardiovascular issues, infertility, and even some types of cancer. The biggest immediate worry, though, is BPA's ability to lower testosterone by impairing the Leydig cells, reducing the activity of key enzymes involved in testosterone synthesis, interfering with the HPG axis, and maybe even fudging with gene expression, potentially causing long-term T suppression.

So, don't touch receipts and thermal tickets, unless you want to be chubby, effeminate, and sick.


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Oh, Calm Down! Receipts Are the Least of Your Worries!​

Is this concern legit or have we fallen prey to the engagement farming tactics of fitness influencers? Well, I'll let you decide, but here's the case against receipt-fear:

The actual absorption rate of BPA and BPS is very low. Your skin is a natural barrier. The chemicals probably can't penetrate deeply enough to enter the bloodstream in meaningful amounts.

Moreover, short contact times with receipts make prolonged absorption unlikely. Now, things like lotions, sweat, or hand sanitizers can increase skin permeability, potentially leading to higher absorption, but you'd have to cover your sticky body with receipts and sit there for hours.

BPA can be nasty stuff, but most studies focus on exposure through ingestion rather than dermal contact: worry about eating it, not touching it. The only people who may need to worry are cashiers who handle receipts all day, and they can wear gloves.

If a small amount of these chemicals is getting into your body, that's a drop of water in the Pacific Ocean compared to other sources of BPA. So, it's nothing to fret about.

The Practical Middle Ground​

You've heard both sides. You know that BPA and similar chemicals are bad news, but will you become receipt-phobic? Here's what I'm going to do:

• I'll continue to worry more about eating than touching. The amount of BPA and other chemicals in receipts pales compared to other sources. So, that means avoiding plastic cooking utensils, looking for PBA-free canned goods (manufacturers are moving away from BPA-lined cans already), not drinking from heated plastic containers, and not licking the dashboard of a new car.
• I'll quickly do a "two-finger receipt grab" from a self-checkout and drop it in a bag. Or I'll ask the cashier to place it in the bag. Maybe I'll sign up for e-receipts when offered. I'll do this because I don't like certain words the research uses when referring to endocrine disruptors – words like "minimal effect "and "probably safe." Minimal? Probably?
• I'm not going to freak out about receipts, but minimizing contact with them is a low investment, so why not?

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One Problem: Endocrine Disruptors Are Everywhere​

BPA is just one chemical in a single category (bisphenols) of endocrine disruptors. There are more:

• Phthalates found in air fresheners, fragrances, lotions, and shampoos.
• Parabens in cosmetics, personal care products, and foods.
• PFAS found in nonstick pans.
• Pesticides, heavy metals, industrial pollution, plastic pipes, and more.

I would say you'd have to live in a giant plastic bubble to avoid all these endocrine disruptors, but giant plastic bubbles are probably full of them.

While we can't avoid them all, we can fight them from the inside out with resveratrol, a natural compound (a polyphenol) found in certain plants.

• Resveratrol binds to estrogen receptors and blocks BPA from exerting its estrogen-like effects, reducing its impact on hormonal systems.
• Along with its antioxidant activities, resveratrol improves liver function by enhancing the activity of detoxifying enzymes and reducing inflammation, which helps the liver process and eliminate BPA.
• It also has protective effects against DNA damage in experimental models, possibly reducing BPA's mutagenic risks.

The only problem with resveratrol-containing foods and supplements is bioavailability: resveratrol is difficult to absorb.