Identify other chemicals known to cause obesity.
A well-written Science News blog describes new research linking pesticide exposures in the womb with rapid weight gain during the first months of life. Other common chemicals not mentioned are also thought to be obesogens, the substances that promote obesity.
An excellent article posted as a blog in Science News provides details about a new study showing that women with high blood levels of DDE during pregnancy have babies that rapidly gain weight during the first 14 months of life. Reporter Janet Raloff describes DDE as an obesogen, a pollutant that "trigger[s] the body to put on the pounds."
Raloff mentions there are other obesogens. She quotes scientists Bruce Blumberg and Ana Soto who have identified other chemicals that cause obesity in animals. However, she does not identify these other chemicals or how humans are exposed to them.
This is an important issue because some other obesogens – such as bisphenol A (BPA) and DEHP, a common phthalate – are used in a wide variety of consumer products. Human exposures to both chemicals are widespread. Avoiding products that contain these chemicals can reduce exposures. For BPA, that includes canned foods and drinks, polycarbonate plastics and cash register receipts. PVC pipes and other plastics are sources for DEHP. However, neither chemical can be avoided altogether, as both have been detected in water and air samples.
DDE is a breakdown product of DDT, a pesticide used in large amounts until it was banned for use in the United States and most of the world in the 1970s. It is still applied in some tropical areas to kill mosquitoes that carry malaria.
Even though it is no longer used in the United States, people are still exposed. Exposures to DDE can occur when root vegetables like carrots and potatoes are grown in soil previously treated with DDT. Exposures also can occur when foods and other consumer goods are produced in countries where DDT is still used. Unfortunately, it is impossible for consumers to know whether products are contaminated with DDE or DDT.
Raloff's article is important because it highlights interesting questions raised by scientists who study obesogens: Do heavier individuals eat more, exercise less or both? Do heavier infants become obese children? And, how exactly do these chemicals change the way food is metabolized?
Just as DDE is found in foods and human blood decades after DDT was banned, the other chemical obesogens may persist in our environments for years to come. Thus, obesogens of all kinds are an important human health issue that will be important for future studies, and more attention from the public.
