Study finds exposure to chemical pollutants increases fat

[SallyMander]

Interesting write-up from Scientific American here: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=obesity-insulin-resistance-organic-pollutants-fat-diet

Saturday, January 16, 2010
Study Finds Exposure to Chemical Pollutants Increases Fat

Researchers have for the first time found a connection between exposure to certain chemicals and insulin resistance, according to a study published in the online edition of Environmental Health Perspectives.

...

Researchers fed rats a high-fat diet of either crude or refined fish oil from farmed Atlantic salmon over 28 days. The crude fish oil contained average levels of POPs that people are exposed to through fish consumption, while the refined oil contained none. Both had equal fat levels.

They found that rats exposed to the crude fish oil developed belly fat and could not regulate fat properly. They had higher levels of cholesterol and several fatty acids in their livers. Those exposed to the refined fish oil experienced none of those symptoms.

Researchers said the findings provide "compelling evidence" of a causal relationship between POP exposure common in the food chain and insulin resistance, and highlight the need to understand the interactions of POPs and fat-containing foods such as fish, dairy products and meat.

[KittyWampus]

1. tagged for later. DU'ers please look up Leptin Resistance. IMO, there's a lot of

environmental factors involved in our health right now.

And corporations whose products depend on chemicals that effect our health aren't too thrilled with poking into the subject.

[truedelphi]

5. Thanks for the tip.

BTW the alternative fields of medicine have long advised people to avoid their contact with environmental polutants. Hollywood starlets often find no success with dieting until they eliminate many of the harmful synthetic agents used in perfumes, laundry "fabric softeners" and room "deoderizers" like Glade, Febreeze etc.

Plus disinfectants like Lysol.

Yes, perfumes have been around for over five thousand years, but the perfumes originally used flower essences and not petroleum derivatives as they do now.

[timeforpeace]

2. "Study Finds..." And the media reports ONE study and public policy results. Pseudo-science has

become a religion for those without science knowledge.

[SallyMander]

3. This is a peer-reviewed study in a top-notch journal

I haven't read the original research yet, but this is not "pseudo-science"...

[CoffeeCat]

4. How in the hell is a scientific study "pseudo science"???

You're absurd.

This is one study. We're discussing the findings of one study from Environmental Health Perspectives, a "monthly journal of peer-reviewed research and news published by the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services."

Please explain to me how peer-reviewed research that is published in Scientific American is, as you said, "religion for those without science knowledge"?

[Luminous Animal]

6. Newsweek has a pretty good article about the emerging science

of studying the effects of chemicals on weight gain.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/215179

[groundloop]

7. DAM.... I gained weight because I used to work in a chemical plant

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

[Festivito]

8. persistent organic pollutants (POPs) DDT, PCBs,PBDEs,PFCs

Had to look it up.

FURTHER FROM SA:
brominated flame retardants, including those known as PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers) used widely in upholstery foam, textiles, and plastics. Also routinely recorded in the far north—some at remarkably high levels—are perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) used as stain repellants, waterproofing agents, and industrial surfactants (think Scotch-guard, Teflon, Gore-Tex, and the slick coating on paper used in food packaging such as pizza boxes, candy wrappers, and microwave popcorn bags

[bettyellen]

9. these chemicals get stored in our fat, so chem's evolutionary strategy is we are the host1

they cause us to gain the fat and they go and lve in it happily. Yikes,

[ensho]

10. kick

nt