In addition to the high consumption of ultra-processed foods, scientists are evaluating whether the chemicals used in everyday products have helped to fatten society.
The global obesity epidemic is worsening, especially among children, with obesity rates rising over the past decade and moving to an earlier age. In the United States, about 40% of high school students today were overweight when they started this phase. Globally, the incidence of obesity has tripled since the 1970s, with one billion people expected to be completely obese by 2030.
The consequences are serious, as obesity is closely related to hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and other serious health problems. Despite the scale of the problem, there is still no consensus on the cause, although scientists recognize many contributing factors, including genetics, stress, viruses, and changes in sleep habits.
The prevalence of obesity has grown in several countries, including Brazil Photo: Flickr
Of course, the popularity of highly processed foods – high in sugar, salt and fat – has also played a role, especially in the West, where people on average consume more calories per day than they did 50 years ago. Even so, recent scientific reviews conclude that much of the massive increase in obesity around the world over the past four decades remains inexplicable.
An emerging view among scientists is that one of the major neglected components of obesity is almost certainly our environment, particularly the pervasive presence within it of chemicals that, even at very low doses, act to disrupt normal functioning. of human metabolism., disrupting the body’s ability to regulate energy intake and expenditure.
Some of these chemicals, known as “obesogenics”, directly drive the production of specific cell types and fat tissues associated with obesity. Unfortunately, these chemicals are used in many of the most basic products of modern life, including plastic packaging, clothing and furniture, cosmetics, food additives, herbicides, and pesticides.
Ten years ago, the idea of chemically induced obesity was something of a marginal hypothesis, but not anymore. “Obesogens are certainly a contributing factor to the obesity epidemic,” Bruce Blumberg, an expert on obesity and endocrine-disrupting chemicals at the University of California, Irvine, told me via email. “The difficulty is determining what fraction of obesity is related to chemical exposure.”
Importantly, recent research shows that obesogens act to harm individuals in ways that traditional chemical toxicity tests cannot detect. In particular, the consequences of exposure to chemicals may not manifest themselves during the life of an exposed organism, but can be transmitted through so-called epigenetic mechanisms to offspring, even several generations apart.
A typical example is tributyltin or TBT, a chemical used, among other things, in wood preservatives. In experiments that exposed mice to presumably safe low levels of TBT, Blumberg and colleagues found a significant increase in fat accumulation over the next three generations.
TBT and other obesogens cause these effects by directly interfering with the normal biochemistry of the endocrine system, which regulates energy storage and use, as well as human eating behavior. This biochemistry is based on a wide variety of hormones produced in organs such as the gastrointestinal tract, pancreas and liver, as well as chemicals in the brain that can alter the feeling of hunger. Experiments have shown that rats exposed to obesogenic chemicals before birth have significantly altered appetites later in their life and a propensity for obesity.
Nearly a thousand obesogenic with such effects have already been identified in studies with animals or humans. They include bisphenol A, a chemical widely used in plastics, and phthalates, plasticizing agents used in paints, medicines and cosmetics. Others include parabens used as preservatives in food and paper products and chemicals called organisms will be used as fungicides. Other obesogens include pesticides and herbicides such as glyphosate, which a recent study found to be present in the urine of most Americans.
Another clue that these chemicals could be behind obesity: Studies have found that the obesity crisis also affects cats, dogs and other animals that live in close proximity to people. A significant increase in the incidence of obesity was also observed in rodents and laboratory primates, animals raised under strictly controlled conditions of caloric intake and exercise. The only possible factors for these animals’ weight gain, the researchers believe, would be subtle chemical changes in the nature of the food they eat or the materials used to build their enclosures.
It is therefore possible that we have unwittingly saturated our living environment with chemicals that affect some of the most fundamental biochemical feedbacks that control human growth and development. The obesity epidemic is likely to persist or worsen unless we can find ways to eliminate those chemicals from the environment, or at least identify the most problematic substances and significantly reduce human exposure to them.
At the very least, it will require a transformation in how we test chemicals for their toxicity, especially the many compounds that are ubiquitous in our foods, plastics, paints, cosmetics and other products. The breakthroughs in epigenetics have profoundly changed biological science and basic medicine over the past 15 years, but have not yet had a major impact on prevailing chemical safety testing practices. Scientists are pushing for change, but it takes time.
Appropriate testing methods are expected to be adopted in the coming years. If not, we could fight to make a big impact in this terrible epidemic.
* Mark Buchanan, physician who writes on science
Source: Terra
Benjamin Smith is a fashion journalist and author at Gossipify, known for his coverage of the latest fashion trends and industry insights. He writes about clothing, shoes, accessories, and runway shows, providing in-depth analysis and unique perspectives. He’s respected for his ability to spot emerging designers and trends, and for providing practical fashion advice to readers.
