Obesogens: Chemicals that cause weight gain
Gwen Ranniger for the Environmental Health News
Yale 360
Obesity is an increasingly common disease in the United States.
The most recent statistics gathered from 2017
to 2020 identify 41.9% of Americans as obese, with the prevalence of severe obesity nearly
doubling to 9.2% over the last two decades.
Obesity is a serious condition, increasing the likelihood of
health problems like heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes — some of the
leading causes of premature death.
We’ve all heard the standard solutions: eat less, exercise more.
But there’s more to it: chemicals in our daily lives make it easier to
unintentionally gain weight and may even make it more difficult to lose it.
These insidious chemicals are called “obesogens” and some doctors are incorporating this
research into their practices and recommendations.
What are obesogens?
Obesogens are a type of endocrine-disrupting chemical.
Quick reminder: your endocrine system is made up of glands that
make hormones. To put it simply, those hormones serve as your body’s “chemical
messengers” that control many important parts and functions of the body.
Obesogens, as endocrine-disrupting chemicals, hijack that
messenger system and can wreak havoc on your health in a variety of ways.
Obesogens are generally defined as chemicals that can cause the
human (and animal) body to produce more fat than it normally would. Obesogens
can include substances we often think of as fattening, like sugars, but also
include an array of chemicals used in all sorts of products, such as BPA,
phthalates and more.
How
do obesogens work?
Obesogens work in many ways. The way they impact your body
depends on the type of obesogen, and can include:
- Disrupting your metabolism, causing your body to produce new or larger fat cells
- Blocking fat cells from releasing stored fat to use as energy
- Altering your eating habits
- Impacting your gastrointestinal tract, which affects how food is digested.
Exposure to obesogens can occur as early as prenatal
development. Obesogens can act across one’s lifespan - but prenatal exposures
are most sensitive to their effects and can cause obesity later in life.
Where
am I being exposed to obesogens?
Unfortunately, all over the place.
Many everyday products contain
obesogens, including:
- Plastic food storage containers
- Plastic toys
- Nonstick cookware
- Personal care products
- Cleaning supplies
- Medical devices
- Flame retardants
- Pesticides
- Processed food additives: preservatives, emulsifiers, flavor enhancers, high fructose corn syrup
And more
Chemicals that are obesogens are added to products such as these
because they serve a purpose — various obesogens can make plastics harder or
more flexible, make textiles stain or water resistant, packaging grease
resistant, etc.
Scientists, researchers and doctors are now pushing for those
chemicals to be removed as unintentional health impacts are being discovered.
What
are the most common obesogens?
Many pesticides: for example, DDT. Though it was banned in the U.S. in 1972 due to environmental impacts, DDT persists for a long time in the environment and in animal tissues and can cause health effects generations after exposure
Air pollution: studies
have shown that early exposure to air pollution increases the risk of childhood
obesity
Phthalates: often added to plastics to increase their
flexibility and found in cosmetic products, hair and skin care products, feminine care products, fast food wrappers,
sunscreens, children’s toys, food storage containers and more
Bisphenol-A (BPA): while
it may be more common to find BPA-free products these days, BPA is only
officially banned in baby bottles. You may still find BPA in water bottles,
canned food linings, receipts, food containers, toys and more. Keep in mind,
too: just because a plastic product is BPA-free does
not mean the alternative chemical used in the product is any safer
PFAS: called “forever
chemicals” for their inability to break down in our bodies and in the
environment, PFAS chemicals are found in a vast number of consumer products.
Read our full guide on PFAS here — and check out our investigation
into PFAS in consumer products here.
How
can I avoid exposure to obesogens?
Avoiding obesogens is difficult. However, any step to limit your exposure can make a difference. Here are some ideas:
- Avoid storing or purchasing food in plastic. Especially avoid heating foods in plastic — this includes frozen dinners and vegetable steamer bags! Heating plastic makes it much more likely that chemicals like obesogens will leak into food
- Use glass or stainless steel containers and bottles instead of plastic
- Use cast iron, stainless steel or enameled cookware. Nonstick coatings are known to contain toxic chemicals like obesogens
- Check your personal care products against databases like the EWG’s Skindeep Cosmetics database or the Clearya mobile app. A general rule of thumb for your personal products: look for organic ingredients, and “less is more” - the fewer ingredients, the better
- Opt for fragrance-free products unless the fragrances are explicitly disclosed and safe
- Filter your water! There are a number of options (for a variety of budgets): filter pitchers you can keep in your fridge, under-sink filters and more
- Skip the flame-resistant and water-repellent carpets, furniture, tablecloths, etc. — the chemicals that make those properties possible are usually obesogens.
- Learn more about obesogens and your health
Check out some of our other reporting on obesogens:
Chemicals in everyday products are
spurring obesity, warns a new review
Doctors advocate for treating obesity
as an environmental problem
Op-Ed: The medical community is missing a major piece of the obesity puzzle