common pesticide could be feeding obesity rates

the study, published in the journal nature communications , found that chlorpyrifos — a chemical sprayed on fruits and vegetables to keep bugs at bay — slows down the calorie-cutting ability of the brown adipose tissue of mice. impeding this process, better known as diet-induced thermogenesis, increases obesity as the body is forced to store extra calories.

“brown fat is the metabolic furnace in our body, burning calories, unlike normal fat that is used to store them,” said gregory steinberg , senior author of the study and professor and co-director of the centre for metabolism, obesity, and diabetes research at mcmaster university in hamilton, ont. “this generates heat and prevents calories from being deposited on our bodies as normal white fat.”

obesity is a progressive, chronic disease that is a leading cause of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, arthritis, cancer and other serious health problems, according to obesity canada . the prevalence of the disease has increased significantly over the past few decades to the point that more than one in three canadians has a level of obesity that may require medical assistance to manage. it is believed that one in 10 premature deaths in adults between the ages of 20 and 64 can be directly attributed to obesity.

previous studies have found that humans have a disturbing number of chemicals circulating through their bodies, including 42 that researchers can’t even identify . the 109 chemicals most recently documented — included 55 never before seen in humans — have also been found in the bodies of newborn babies, likely arriving there through the placenta during pregnancy.

dave yasvinski is a writer with  healthing.ca

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common pesticide could be feeding obesity rates

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