What if poor eating habits aren’t the only cause of obesity? What if there was a hidden problem, hiding in plain sight, that could be the real cause of the sudden streak of obesity? Well, that is what, my friends, I am here to talk to you about! Though many scientists, doctors, and researchers still believe in the “calorie in, calorie out” model, some have started to take a look at a whole new field of the obesity epidemic — chemicals. Any chemicals that interfere with the normal metabolic processes or risk causing weight gain throughout the years, is in short, called obesogens.
Some of these chemicals include BPA, Air Pollution, PCBs, Cigarette smoke, some pesticides, and more. One study shows that tributyltin and triphenyltin had caused animals to have more and bigger fat cells, even though they still ate their normal diets, but still gained weight, compared to animals who didn’t have the chemicals. Additionally, fructose, the “sweet” part of the sugar, is an obesogen. It tricks the brain into eating more and is used in High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) which is used in most soft drinks and other foods.
This is a problem because minimizing exposure to dangerous chemicals is often challenging because it is difficult to know when or not these products contain chemicals. Some tips include eating fresh foods, reducing the use of plastics (containing BPA), fragrance-free products, etc.
With scientists always talking about the “calorie-in and calorie-out” model, the truth about these secretly harmful chemicals has evaded us for years. With all of the added chemicals in all food, it’s hard to stay away, and stay healthy!
Sources: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/03/whats-really-making-us-fat/254087/ https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/conditions/obesity/obesogens/index.cfm