{"id":26853,"date":"2021-05-10T08:05:51","date_gmt":"2021-05-10T13:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/?p=26853"},"modified":"2022-11-14T13:48:45","modified_gmt":"2022-11-14T19:48:45","slug":"is-the-environment-making-us-fatter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/10\/is-the-environment-making-us-fatter","title":{"rendered":"Is The Environment Making Us Fat(ter)?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Virtually every day, a patient offers a variation of this sentence: \u201cI\u2019m steadily gaining weight no matter what I do<\/a>. I restrict my calories to good foods, I exercise regularly, and I get zero results. My thyroid tests are normal. What\u2019s wrong with my body?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know the US is a nation of the overweight and obese, but in fact it\u2019s a global phenomenon. 42% of Americans are overweight or obese, but so are 50% of all Chinese, 60% of German citizens, and 40% of the French. It\u2019s not an obesity epidemic. It\u2019s a pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet this pandemic has many underlying factors. It\u2019s not due to inactivity, although that contributes. In fact, in many ways, we\u2019re more physically active now than we were a generation ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we\u2019re doing is eating more calories every day than we did a generation or two ago. Our biggest increases have been in grains and cheap fats and the junky foods made with them rather than high-nutrient veggies, fruit, and clean protein. Our overall calorie increase from 1970 to 2020 went from 2,016 to 2,390. Yes, the number is higher and cheap fast foods are ubiquitous, but is it enough to be solely responsible for this pandemic?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chemicals as a cause of weight gain<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s start with the effect of chemicals we\u2019ve probably all heard about:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commonly used prescription drugs can cause weight gain<\/span>
For many, taking a prescription drug is a ticket to added pounds. The SSRI antidepressants, beta blockers for blood pressure, insulin, corticosteroids, tricyclic antidepressants, and pain meds like Lyrica are all linked to weight gain, and the susceptibility to this effect seems to have a genetic basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If prescription meds can cause weight gain, what about other chemicals?<\/span>
Here\u2019s a relatively new (and important) word: obesogens. Obesogens are chemicals that disrupt the glands of your hormone-producing endocrine system. By throwing a proverbial wrench into your once smoothly functioning glands, you start wrecking dozens of metabolic processes, many of which are involved with how you perceive hunger, store fat, and burn calories. Obesogens increase susceptibility to weight gain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One huge group of obesogens is made up of pesticides, now pegged as one of the culprits in the rise of obesity and diabetes among agricultural workers. Pesticides have a variety of effects on the endocrine system, affecting both the number and size of fat cells and also disrupting hormones involved in appetite, food preferences, and energy metabolism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prevalence of risk factors for Type 2 diabetes (being overweight\/obese, having high blood pressure, having high cholesterol, and being physically inactive, all more common in rural populations) obviously has a variety of underlying causes, but obesogenic pesticide exposure is likely front and center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another group of environmental obesogens is plastics, which act similarly to pesticides as endocrine disruptors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The different bisphenols found in numerous household products like plastic water bottles, plastic dishes and cutlery, and food packaging have all been linked to obesity. One study of obese children found higher amounts of bisphenols than among normal-weight children. Simply measuring urinary bisphenol levels could predict which children were obese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phthalates are found in a wide variety of products\u2014from shower curtains, nail polish, and shampoo to plastic food wrap–that have actually been shown to trigger fat cell production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other culprit plastics include polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFCs). For more information, here are two excellent and more detailed articles on pesticides and obesity<\/a> and on plastics and obesity<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What you can do?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For the following suggestions, I want to thank naturopathic physician Marianne Marchese, ND, and her article in this month\u2019s Townsend Letter<\/a>. By the way, anyone seriously interested in alternative and nutritional medicine should have a subscription.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For your environment<\/p>\n\n\n\n