9 Weird Things That Can Trigger Early Menopause

Chemicals. Lot’s of them.

You may not think twice about the bottle of body wash that you use in the shower each morning, or the plastic container of Thai you microwaved for dinner last night, but these items may contain chemicals that can potentially wreak havoc on your body.
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A recent study published in PLOS ONE that analyzed exposure to 111 chemicals in women all over the U.S. found that those with the highest levels in their bodies experienced menopause 2 to 4 years earlier, compared with women with the lowest levels. “That’s actually an effect that’s more profound than smoking,” says lead study author Amber R. Cooper, MD, a reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist, and an assistant professor at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

So…what’s the connection? “That’s one of the big, lingering questions,” says Cooper. The chemicals that she studied are considered “endocrine-disrupting,” but why, exactly, they may lead to early menopause isn’t yet known. It’s also not clear whether one main chemical is causing the damage, or whether multiple chemicals interacting with each other could be the problem. What’s important to understand is that it isn’t any one product that contains dangerous levels of a chemical—it’s that tiny amounts of exposure from lots of products accumulate over time. The PLOS ONE study didn’t analyze women who had been exposed to unusually high amounts of chemicals; it looked at everyday exposure that builds up gradually.