Are you wondering if water filters remove estrogen? There has become a growing problem involving estrogen contaminating local water supplies. Certain medications, such as birth control, contain synthetic estrogen to modify the hormonal levels of the body. Unfortunately, when people throw away this medication by flushing it down the toilet, the estrogen from the medication can get released into public water supplies.
You might assume that your local water treatment plant will remove estrogen from your tap water before supplying it to your home. However, their water filtration methods don’t eliminate all the pharmaceutical compounds in the water, including the natural and synthetic estrogens.
As a result, there is a high probability that you might have estrogen in the tap water coming out of your kitchen sink. If estrogen is not removed from the water before consumption, it could have devastating health consequences for men and women.
How Does Estrogen in Water Affect Health
Consuming estrogen in water can impact males and females in different ways. For instance, unusually high levels of estrogen can cause a woman to develop breast cancer, abnormal menstrual cycles, and development issues in their children. Younger girls could go through puberty early if they consume too much estrogen in their water.
The health consequences of males consuming estrogen in water can be even worse. For starters, estrogen can cause men to develop hormonal imbalances that limit their testosterone production, which will negatively impact their sexual and physical health.
Not only will it weaken their sperm quality and quantity, but it will increase their likelihood of impotence. Other health issues arising from estrogen in males include unwanted behavioral changes and a higher risk of developing testicular cancer.
How Water Filters Can Remove Estrogen
Sadly, no federal regulations or standards require public utilities to remove estrogen from drinking water. That is why it is up to consumers like you to use the proper filters to remove estrogen from your tap water. The question is, which water filters can adequately reduce or eliminate it?
First, it is essential to point out that boiling your tap water will not remove estrogen. Boiling is a traditional water purification practice for eliminating viruses and bacteria from water. However, it is not the best method for removing hormones like estrogen from water.
The two best water filtration methods for removing estrogen are reverse osmosis, activated carbon, and ceramic filters. Let’s review each one below:
Reverse Osmosis Filtration
Reverse osmosis is one of the most popular ways to filter and purify tap water. The reverse osmosis filtration process forces tap water through a semi-permeable membrane material, removing nearly 99% of its particles and contaminants. Studies have found that this method can successfully filter out estrogen and other hormones from the water.
The only downside to reverse osmosis filtration is the expense since you must purchase an entire reverse osmosis system to produce the water pressure needed for this filtration process. It will be worth the investment for many people because they can also remove other nasty contaminants from their water, ranging from bacteria to heavy metals and salts.
You can purchase reverse osmosis filtration systems to install for your entire home or underneath your kitchen sink. The latter is the more affordable but only filters your kitchen tap water. The whole house system filters all the public tap water running to your home.
Activated Carbon Filters
Activated carbon filters are the most affordable and effective method of removing estrogen from water. These filters feature porous carbon particles that can attract and hold estrogen molecules found in the water. The molecules stay trapped in the carbon, which allows cleaner water to come out of the filter.
You can expect activated carbon filters to remove over 60% of the estrogen from your water, depending on the model used. For instance, evidence shows that the C401 reactivated carbon filters can filter out more than 80% of estrogen from water. Alternatively, the F400 virgin carbon filters can remove nearly 65% of estrogen from water.
Activated carbon filters have two options: countertop filters or whole-house units. The countertop version is a simple pitcher filter that quickly filters tap water, but the results are not as good. The whole house unit is the more efficient and effective carbon filtration option because it removes higher estrogen levels.
Filter Certifications and Standards
The best option is to use a multi-stage water filtration system incorporating reverse osmosis and activated carbon filtration methodologies. Such a system will give you the best of both filtration methods by removing contaminants from your water, including volatile organic compounds, bacteria, pharmaceuticals, and hormones like estrogen.
Look for filters with certifications that prove they meet official water filtration standards. For example, the National Sanitation Foundation is an organization that protects public health by creating safety standards for food and water products. The American National Standards Institute has accredited the NSF to set standards for water filtration products, such as Brita carbon filter pitchers.
Some of the most common NSF certifications include:
- NSF / ANSI Standard 42 – Good for removing chlorine and particles from water, but not estrogen.
- NSF / ANSI Standard 53 – Can help reduce estrogenic compounds and other volatile organic compounds in water.
- NSF / ANSI Standard 401 – The best certification for removing estrogen and pharmaceutical drugs from drinking water. Try to find a filter with this certification if your primary goal is to target estrogen.
Conclusion
You may feel comfortable starting with an activated carbon filtration pitcher or under-sink reverse osmosis filter to test its ability to remove estrogen. Once you are happy with the results, you may feel compelled to purchase a whole-house filter at some point in the future.