From UCI
Put down that pastrami on rye and let go of that chocolate milkshake. It may be that the skyrocketing obesity rates in the U.S. aren't solely attributable to overeating and lack of exercise and activity, researchers say. Instead, they're also investigating the role that may be played by "obesogens," industrial chemicals that have proliferated in this country since World War II and now pop up everywhere in materials, such as plastics, in which Americans ship, store and prepare our food. They're trying to understand whether exposure to these substances reprograms the body's metabolism, causing more fat cells to be created and retained; they've seen some early, scary links between fetal development and "obesogens," leading to fatter kids and to a lifetime of obesity woes. For now, while their research remains a work in progress, they're urging the wary to seek food that's organic and grown as close by as possible and to store and prepare it in less reactive materials such as glass and stainless steel.
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