Your testosterone is probably being lowered by weird, unnatural chemicals in your water. Xenoestrogens, like BPA or Phthalates are chemicals that act like estrogen in your body. They come from plastic pollution, pesticides, cosmetics, and more. The following water filters are proven to remove the vast majority of xenoestrogens from your water, keeping your hormones natural and strong. For more detailed info about water filters that can remove each xenoestrogen, keep reading below.
Image | Product Details | Removes BPA? | Removes Phthalates? | Removes PCB's? |
---|---|---|---|---|
ProOne Traveler+ Stainless-Steel Gravity Water Filter System | 99.9% | 98.4% | 93.3% | |
ProOne Water Filter Pitcher | 99.9% | 98.4% | 93.3% | |
Clearly Filtered Water Filter Pitcher | 99.9% | 99.5% | 99.1% | |
ProOne ProMax Brushed Nickel Shower Filter | 72.7% | 74.5% | 49% |
Dangers of Xenoestrogens
It isn’t just men that are harmed by xenoestrogens. Breast cancer is linked to women being exposed to high amounts of these chemicals. Conditions that you wouldn’t think have anything to with hormones are also a risk. Obesity, diabetes, and miscarriages are all associated with xenoestrogens.

Xenoestrogens Lower Testosterone
The estrogenic effect of these chemicals lowers testosterone in men, making them fat, sickly, and low energy. Nobody wants that! But the worst of all is when a developing baby is exposed to xenoestrogens. This child will grow up to have low testosterone, less athletic ability, less energy, and more chance of being infertile as an adult. In the USA, testosterone levels have fallen drastically over the last several decades, from about 650 ng/dl to 400 ng/dl, which is dangerously low. Xenoestrogens in the water must be at fault, and removing them with a water filter is critical.
Countertop Or Pitcher Water Filter?
You might be surprised to hear that a large countertop model is easier to operate than a smaller water filter pitcher. You might have to fill the pitcher multiple times a day, and then wait a while for the water to filter. But with the countertop water filter, you can have multiple gallons of water ready to go whenever you need. ProOne’s countertop water filter removes xenoestrogens really well and is our overall favorite, due to our trust in the company, their excellent lab results, and their product design.
If you don’t have space for a countertop unit, there are great water filter pitchers available to remove xenoestrogens. The ClearlyFiltered pitcher is a bit better than the pitcher from ProOne at removing xenoestrogens, according to the labs. Nonetheless, our favorite is still ProOne for another reason – ClearlyFiltered doesn’t remove as much aluminum, which we find to be very important.
Under the sink filters can remove xenoestrogens really well, but they’re expensive. We don’t advise a whole house reverse osmosis system, even though it will definitely remove these chemicals. Filtering your whole house is very wasteful and expensive.

Xenoestrogens In My Shower?!
Your shower is a huge source of xenoestrogen exposure. The hot, steamy water absorbs through your skin just as much as drinking water does. According to one study, some chemicals actually get into you through bathing water more than they do from drinking water!
A good showerhead water filter will help protect you from xenoestrogens. Sadly, shower water can’t be filtered as effectively as drinking water because of the high rate of flow, but it is still very worthwhile to filter it!
ProOne’s showerhead water filter can remove many xenoestrogens. We don’t know of any other shower filters that show lab results of what they can do.
AquaBliss makes a very popular shower filter that probably is able to remove some xenoestrogens, but unfortunately we don’t know their lab results.
Another thing a good shower filter removes is chlorine, with great effects on your skin and hair.
Removing BPA With A Water Filter
A good water filter can remove BPA very well. Both ProOne and ClearlyFiltered drinking water filters remove 99.9% of BPA. The shower filter from ProOne removes 72.7% of BPA.
BPA was literally designed to be a synthetic estrogen originally. It was later found to be useful in the plastic industry and it began to be used all over the place. BPA gets into your body easily. Scientists have found BPA to be present in 95% of people. Unsurprisingly, BPA has dangerous estrogenic effects, being involved with breast cancer. BPA is known to cause estrogenic and anti-dopamine changes to a developing mammal’s brain. It damages thyroid function.
All together, BPA would cause brain fog, low energy, low motivation, anxiety, and irritability. A study on children finds that BPA does indeed cause negative behavior changes. BPA is also believed by scientists to be an “obesogen,” meaning that its unnatural effects help cause obesity. Scientists have considered calling for a total ban on BPA because of its harmful effects.
Filtering Out PCB’s
ClearlyFiltered pitcher – 99.1% PCB removal
ProOne countertop – 93.3% PCB removal
ProOne shower – 49% PCB removal
PCB’s were used as plasticizers in industrial processes. They are strongly cancer-promoting. PCB’s have been banned for a while, but unfortunately they are still found in the water. It will be a while before they are gone from the world. Until then, we do still need to filter PCB’s out of our water.

Water Filters That Remove Phthalates
ClearlyFiltered – 99.5% phthalates removed
ProOne – 98.4% phthalates removed
ProOne shower – 74.5% phthalates removed
Phthalates are also plasticizers. Most Americans have detectable levels of phtalates in them. Phthalates have been shown to mess with hormones and even cause birth defects in high dosages.
Getting PBDEs Out of Your Water
PBDE’s are flame retardants. They’re incorporated into furniture, carpets, buildings, and more. Unfortunately, they get into the water supply pretty easily. 97% of Americans have measurable amounts of PBDE’s in them, and these chemicals have been shown to reduce fertility.
We are not aware of a water filter that has posted labs showing PBDE removal. PBDEs can be filtered by activated carbon though, and all the water filters discussed in this article use activated carbon so they definitely should help. One study found that about 96% of PBDE’s could be removed from soil by activated carbon filtration (this was not a water filter though).
Atrazine Removing Water Filters
Atrazine is a chemical pesticide that is shockingly bad for our health. Europe has banned atrazine, but it is still one of the most widely used pesticides in the USA. Not only does it cause cancer and birth defects, but it is a huge endocrine disruptor. That means low testosterone, damage to the development of the reproductive organs, infertility, and worse. Filtering atrazine from your water is critical. 90% of public water in America tests positive for atrazine, and it is typical for the atrazine content to spike to critical levels throughout the year.

Thankfully, atrazine can be almost totally removed from your water by a good water filter. Both ClearlyFitlered and ProOne both remove 99.8% or more of atrazine out of your drinking water. The showerhead water filter from ProOne removes 54.1% of atrazine. We’d like to see much higher removal, but currently this is the best available on the market today, as far as we know. It is way better than no removal!
Estrogenic Microplastics Have To Go
Both ClearlyFiltered and ProOne effectively filter out 99.9% or more of microplastics. It is unknown how well the shower filter from ProOne filters microplastics, but it would likely remove most of it, by its activated carbon filter.
How To Remove Estrogen From Your Water
Xenoestrogens aren’t the only estrogenic, hormone-lowering substance that pollutes the water. Plain old estrogen itself is found in water surprisingly often.
ClearlyFiltered – 99.2% removal of all three estrogens (results averaged)
ProOne – 86.5% removal of estrone (one of the three estrogens)
It’s unknown how much estrogen the ProOne shower filter can remove, but it can remove 75% of progesterone, a different but similarly sized hormone. This means the shower filter can probably remove a similar amount of estrogen too.
More Contaminants To Remove
There’s more bad guys lurking in your water than xenoestrogens. One very important contaminant to remove is aluminum, which is linked to cognitive decline and even Alzheimer’s Disease. That’s why we always recommend water filters that remove all the contaminants and not just one thing! Fluoride is a common cause for concern, and the water filters we chose do filter fluoride. Our detailed guide to filtering all the contaminants is a great source for choosing your water filter.

More Ways To Avoid Xenoestrogens
Use cosmetics that aren’t full of xenoestrogens.
Get your food from as natural, organic sources as possible to avoid consuming estrogenic pesticide residue. Try to avoid eating manufactured foods full of chemicals. Food dyes specifically can be xenoestrogenic.
Be aware of flame retardants in furniture and pillows, and shower curtains off-gassing chemicals.
Try not to eat and drink out of plastic containers constantly. Especially don’t let the plastic heat up.