www.timesonline.co.uk/art...14,00.html

Hormones in water blamed as more men seek breast reduction
Sarah-Kate Templeton
A SHARP rise in the number of men requesting breast- reduction operations is being blamed by surgeons on the effects of excess female hormones in tap water and food.

Clinics are reporting a doubling in the number of operations being carried out over just one year. According to surgeons, the male breasts examined are similar in structure to those of women and are not simply fat deposits caused by overeating.

They believe the condition, called gynecomastia, is caused by traces of the female contraceptive pill in tap water and hormones used to promote the growth of farm animals.

Yannis Alexandrides, a surgeon at the Kosmeticos clinic in Harley Street, central London, carried out one male breast reduction a month four years ago but is now doing one a week.

Hormones contained in the food we eat, particularly fast food, may be one of the reasons why we are seeing this increase, said Alexandrides.

Alan Kingdon, a cosmetic surgeon and medical director of the Cosmetic Surgery clinic in London, has witnessed a similar increase in demand. He has studied the material removed from mens breasts and has found mammary gland tissue usually found only in women.

We are seeing a group of male patients who have glandular tissue growing in their breasts that are feminine in appearance, he said. This group of patients appears to be on the increase.

I can only speculate as to the causes, but I would suspect that the use of oestrogen in the food chain is a factor.

Professor Kefah Mokbel, a consultant breast and endocrine surgeon at Londons St Georges and Princess Grace hospitals, said he was now treating about 150 men a year for breast reduction.

A survey carried out by the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons found that in 2003 its members carried out 22 male breast reductions which in 2004 rose to 53.

Female hormones in the environment have also been blamed for falling sperm counts among British men. Samples taken from 7,500 men attending the Aberdeen Fertility Centre between 1989 and 2002 show that sperm concentrations fell by almost a third.

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The number of cases may be on the rise, but it could simply be the number of men seeking treatment is on the rise. The "environmental estrogen" scare tactics this article uses is simply irresponsible, especially pointing fingers based on speculation.

However, it is interesting, and maybe some serious researchers will look into this, testing the food and water supplies for trace amounts of estrogen like compounds, comparing the diets and family history of all the men affected, as well as studying a control population in a similar sized city elsewhere. I know this will sound gross, but questioning these men if they have ever taken birth control pills, or drank the urine of pregnant women, or women on birth control, or urine of pregnant horses. Not that there is a huge fetish population out there, but ancient Babylonian's used the urine of pregnant mares as birth control medication.

I would really like to see some serious science done on this "phenomona".

Jimro