Plastic may be making you obese, scientists warn

Chemicals known as ‘obesogens’ directly boost the production of fatty tissues associated with obesity

Scientists have warned that the presence of plastic in everyday items could be a factor responsible for obesity.

The presence of certain chemicals known as “obesogens” in everyday items disturbs the normal functioning of human metabolism, upsetting the body’s ability to regulate its intake and expenditure of energy.

Recent research says that obesogens directly boost the production of specific cell types and fatty tissues associated with obesity and are found in all sorts of items including plastic packaging, clothes, furniture, cosmetics, food additives, herbicides and pesticides.

“Obesogens are certainly a contributing factor to the obesity epidemic,” Bruce Blumberg, an expert on obesity and endocrine-disrupting chemicals from the University of California, Irvine, was quoted as saying to Bloomberg.

“The difficulty is determining what fraction of obesity is related to chemical exposure.”

A study published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology in January this year found that there are over 55,000 different chemical components in plastic consumer products and identified 629 substances of which 11 are known to be metabolism-disrupting chemicals (MDCs) that trigger obesity.

According to recent research, obesogens have harmful effects on individuals that often go undetected by traditional tests of chemical toxicity.

Mr Blumberg and his colleagues demonstrate this in studies using tributyltin (TBT), a chemical used in wood preservatives, among other things.

In their experiments, scientists found that exposing mice to low and supposedly safe levels of TBT significantly increased fat accumulation in the next three generations.

In addition, around 1,000 obesogens with such effects have already been identified in studies with animals or humans, the Bloomberg report said.

This includes Bisphenol A, a chemical widely used in plastics, and phthalates, plasticising agents used in paints, medicine and cosmetics.

Others include parabens used as preservatives in food and paper products and chemicals called organotins used as fungicides.

Recent studies have also found that obesity affects cats, dogs and other animals living in proximity to people as well as in laboratory rodents and primates – animals raised under strictly controlled conditions of caloric intake and exercise.

Researchers believe that the only possible factors driving weight gain for these animals are subtle chemical changes in the nature of the foods they eat, or in the materials used to build their pens.