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Chemicals and obesityOne culprit is Bisphenol-aChemicals and obesity? It was something I'd never thought of until I heard about a 2008, report about bisphenol-a. And then when I read a bit further I saw that it wasn't the only culprit in the chemicals and obesity debate.
Food packaging?Could it be a culprit?In May 2008, scientists doing studies with mice found that the chemicals you're exposed to in the womb - like the plastics our foods come packaged in, may cause obesity. And don't forget that many of the products we use on our bodies (from shampoos to body lotions) are loaded with all sorts of chemical compounds too.These studies showed that mice exposed to even minute quantities of these kinds of chemicals before birth were fatter when they became older than those who were not exposed to these chemical compounds. It raises questions about how chemicals and obesity might be linked? The alarming part about it is that, as Jerry Heindel from the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, points out: "We are talking about an exposure at very low levels for a finite time during development." We all know that the womb is a time when all the organs and the entire structure of the human body is being formed. "The fact that it is such a sensitive period, it may be altering the tissue and making people more susceptible to obesity." A fatter population?I find the emerging hypothesis about chemicals and obesity alarming because if compounds like bisphenol-a , found in plastics affects unborn babies, why wouldn't it continue to affect us as babies, toddlers, children, teens and adults? And what happens then when we are are exposed to them day in and day out year after year?And couldn't a case be made in the chemicals and obesity debate, that the cumulative effect of exposure to these chemical compounds over years result in the ever larger people we're seeing in the Western world (which is rife with packaging)?
This isn't the first study to find that chemical compounds found in our environment are toxic for us. Earlier studies have linked these chemicals -- they are also found in water pipes -- to cancer, especially breast cancer, and fertility problems.
Chemicals leak into our foodAnd a 2007 study had both the U. S. National Institutes of Health and the U.S. National Toxicology Program saying there was "some concern about Bisphenol-a's effects on fetal and infant brain development and behavior and "there is some concern for neural and behavioral effects in fetuses, infants, and children at current human exposures," respectively.Here are some interesting words I found linked to bisphenol-a, You tell me how healthy they sound: acetone, phenol, hydrodochoric acid, sulfonated polystyrene resin. And so these chemicals are what we're touching and what previous research thinks is leaching into our food every day! And what research is now talking about in the same sentence: chemicals and obesity. According to the Green Guide: "Plastic water and baby bottles, food and beverage can linings and dental sealants are the most commonly encountered uses of this chemical. Unfortunately, it doesn't stay put. BPA has been found to leach from bottles into babies' milk or formula; it migrates from can liners into foods and soda and from epoxy resin-lined vats into wine; and it is found in the mouths of people who've recently had their teeth sealed."
And it wasn't just BPA, but also perfluorooctanoic acid exposure too that found that mice in the womb exposed to it were usually small at birth but then became overweight in later life. More evidence to add to the growing hypothesis that chemicals and obesity may be linked. Perfluorooctanoic acid is found in products such as microwave popcorn bags. And talking about microwaves,I can't help wondering, what happens when we then microwave foods that have these expoxy resins and chemical compounds in them! And how do those affect our health? And what about the chemcals added to our food in the process of manufaturing and processing that comes with making all these so-called diet foods? According to Wikipedia, more than 100 studies on the endocrine disrupting properties have been done of the effects of BPA and it's thought that it can be linked to obesity because it triggers fat-cell activity. Biologist Bruce Blumberg from the Univeristy of California confirmed that the chemicals appear to disrupt the endocrine system by altering gene and metabolic function involved in weight gain. The result is the offspring store fat cells more efficiently, which makes them gain weight, he said. Blumberg studied tributylin, a chemical used in boat paint, plastic food wrap and as a fungicide on crops. The findings suggest some people may be programmed to obesity even in the womb.
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