Chemicals that lead to obesity

Obesity is one of the major killers on earth today as it leads to a number of other diseases. It has been attributed to many factors, heredity, poor eating habits, lack of exercise, stress, certain antibiotics.

So it is a worry that it has been reported in a report, commissioned by the CHEM group, that many Gender-Bending chemicals are found in the materials we use every day. For example toys, Cellphones, Sunglasses, Tin Cans, Shampoos and so on and on and on.

Spanish and South Korean researches powered through around 240 separate studies on obesity, pollution and diabetes. Apparently, not only could these chemicals lead to obesity, but also diabetes.
It was concluded that there was sufficient evidence to suggest that these chemicals cause weight gain in animals. Unfortunately, due to ethical constraints, these experiments cannot be tested on humans in a controlled situation.

It seems many of these chemicals mimic or/and interfere with the effect of hormones, thus leading to the 'Gender-Bender' label.

A Dr Tim Lobstein of the International Association for the Study for Obesity, feels that these chemicals will sabotage people's weight loss attempts, as one cannot see or taste these chemicals, yet come into contact with them daily and are pretty unavoidable.

These hormone altering chemicals include
1) Phthalates-Used in rubber, PVC products, soft toys, bath mats, soap packaging, to name a few. A Danish study also attributed certain food contamination from this chemical on environmental pollution.
2) Oestrogen- like substances- These include chemicals known as Parabens and are found in products like sunscreens and moisturizing lotions.
3) Pesticides- DDT, dioxins and PCB's are all known as hormone interrupters.

Good news if you stay in the European Union area- they are set to tackle this problem with both science and the law. As for the rest of the world, at least we can eat like mad, drink beer and blame the chemicals.