For many years, the only concept that medicine considered when it came to weight management was calories in and calories out. If you ate too much or exercised too little, you gain weight and get fat. With few exceptions given to metabolic disorders like certain hormone imbalances, if you were overweight, it was all about the amount of food you ate. For several decades, those in the natural community bucked this black and white concept and started considering other options. We saw that many would decrease their caloric intake, and actually gain weight. How could this happen if it was only calories in and calories out? We began exploring the ideas that maybe it was they type of food that made a difference. Certain foods may lead to increased weight retention due to the changes in hormones created. Instead of following the low fat fad that medicine was on, we investigated the ideas of lower carbohydrate, whole grain concepts, and vegetarianism. While we found that this covered more of the population, we still had some patients that didn't fit. At this point, we began looking outward, and started investigating the impact our environment has on us. It's amazing what was found.
It didn't take long doing research before we found a tremendous amount of man made chemicals that interact with our hormones. Most notably, we found an abundance of them that had a direct impact on how estrogen affects us. Estrogens (there are a bunch of them) tend to be proliferative hormones. That is, they make cells reproduce, often storing calories for future use. Those who have too much estrogen in their system have a hard time losing weight, among other problems. We've labeled compounds in our environment that interfere with the normal expression of estrogen as xenoestrogens. Many of these end up acting like estrogens, not only feminizing us, but also potentially inducing cancers. While most of these compounds are petroleum based, they range from plastics to mercury, and they all cause havoc.
It wasn't until we had a better understanding of the hormones related to appetite and mood that we found a new class of environmental toxins: obesogens. These compounds not only impact our appetite and mood, they can also directly interfere with several hormone systems and reset our metabolic rate, which is how many calories we burn at rest. Here are a few obesogens that have been identified so far.
Tributyltin (TBT) and Triphenyltin (TPT) are two chemicals that increase the number of fat cells and how readily they store fat. They can be found in marine anti-fouling paints, wood catalysts, plasticizers, slimicides in industrial water systems, and fungicides.
Bisphenol A (BPA), Polycarbonate plastics, Phthalate plasticizers, and Perfluoroalkyl compounds (PFC's) are also adipogenic (fat producing). They are widely used as chemicals to soften plastics or surfactants and surface repellants. These chemicals are so widely used that it is almost impossible to find someone on planet earth who doesn't have a significant amount of these in their tissues. BPA is also a xenoestrogen.
Di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP), a plasticizer, and Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a surfactant, have an impact on fat storage mechanisms as well as numbers of fat cells.
Tricyclic antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI's), atypical antipsychotics, and other mood stabilizers have profound effects on not only appetite, but also on fat storage mechanisms. The numbers of Americans on these medications is skyrocketing. Even if you are anti-mood stabilizing drug free, if you drink water that has come from any large body of flowing water, it is likely you will have exposure due to the amounts excreted through the urine. Water treatment plants have absolutely no effect on medications, and they can pass directly into the water supply.
BPA, Nonylphenol, a surfactant and detergent breakdown intermediary, and DEHP impact expression of hormones in our appetite control centers. They have been shown to increase weight gain with calorie restriction.
Trimethyltin (TMT) and Triethyltin (TET) are neurotoxic chemicals that impact our satiety centers, telling us to keep eating even when full. They are used in stabilizing plastics.
Polybrominate diphenyl ethers (PBDE's) are implicated in changes in metabolic set points and how many calories are burned. They are extensively used as flame retardants and found frequently in human samples.
Carbenoxolone, a sweetener, and Dithiocarbamates, used in cosmetics and agricultural products like pesticides, have a direct impact on our stress response, thereby affecting our eating habits.
Regardless of the type of chemical and how it affects us, the research is abundantly clear that pre and perinatal exposure is especially harmful, as this is when the hormones and brain chemistry are being set for life. Introducing these compounds to kids, who have a significantly decreased ability to detoxify them, can set them up for a lifetime of weight struggles.
Medicine's concept of calories in vs calories out has been blasted out of the water, and the newest research is showing us that, while we need to eat better, we need to clean up our environment to fight obesity. Choosing food products that are minimally processed, organic or free range, and as local as possible will significantly decrease the amounts of these toxic substances in our systems. Beyond that, we need to find our way back to a safer and less processed life in general. While this won't be easy, if we continue to leave these chemicals in our environment unchecked, we will continue to lose the obesity epidemic.
Look for future blogs that will give more information and insights into improving your health with natural health care. You can also visit my website, like me on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter.
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