Avoid Obesogens

The increased use of synthetic chemicals between 1930 and 2000 directly correlates with the rise of obesity in adults. Coincidink? Scientists don’t think so. There’s even a new word for these obesity-promoting chemicals: Obesogens. Yes, really.

Including pesticides, preservatives, parabens, hormones, Bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates, obesogens are endocrine disruptors—chemicals that mimic hormones and mess up the physiologic function of these hormones—that reprogram your metabolism to build and store fat.

Obesogens are stored in your fatty tissues; once you start to lose weight—surprise!—they’re released into your bloodstream, fooling your body into hoarding calories instead of burning them. Sounds like a recipe for an overweight world, right?

But you can easily reduce your exposure by eating organic, using natural household cleaners, storing food in glass containers rather than plastic, avoiding Styrofoam, and nixing high-fructose corn syrup. Easy. Peasy.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 31st, 2014 at 8:49 am. It is filed under Sustainability and tagged with fat, food, obesity, obesogen, organic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.