Category Archives: obesity

Chemicals and Obesity: What if it isn’t all your fault?

October 18, 2009 Karen S. Vaughan 10 Comments

As someone who was around in the ’50s and ’60s when there was less obesity, I have to tell you that diets were not that good. TV dinners, Wonder bread, instant mashed potatoes, fish-sticks and whole milk predominated and vegetables tended towards the overcooked. Food was cooked in Crisco, full of trans fats, and cotton seed oils. Fresh vegetables came in during the late 60s, but predominated on the coasts. There was less soda and no high fructose corn syrup, and portion sizes were somewhat smaller, but the caloric difference may not be enough to explain why we have an epidemic of infant obesity today that we didn’t then. And I doubt that the babies today are doing any less exercise, although their older siblings may be indoors on computers more instead of riding bikes.

While diets included a lot more fresh vegetables after the 1960s and mothers showed an increased willingness to breastfeed, obesity rates increased. And not just in couch-potato adults or fast food addicts. The Harvard School of Public Health reported in 2006 that the prevalence of obesity in infants under 6 months had risen 73 percent since 1980. You need to look at more than calories in and calories out when infants start showing up obese.

One thing that has affected all of us, from the developing embryo to the adult is a category of chemicals named obesogens by researcher Bruce Blumberg of the University of California, Irvine. These chemicals mimic hormones and upset the body’s homeostasis and disrupt the endocrine system in a way that increases appetites and stores fats. There is evidence that they also affect developing fetuses. Levels have been increasing since the 1950s.

Paula Baillie-Hamilton, a doctor at Stirling University in Scotland wrote in a 1997 article in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, had risen in lockstep with the use of chemicals such as pesticides and plasticizers over the previous 40 years.

The obesogens have two previously unsuspected effects. They act on genes in the developing fetus and newborn to turn more precursor cells into fat cells, which stay with you for life. And they may alter metabolic rate, so that the body hoards calories rather than burning them. If you have an active life style and eat well, you may avoid turning these on, but if you live the “normal” life of 21st century Americans you are likely to end up obese.

The chemicals are fat soluble, which makes them very difficult to excrete, since we evolved to detoxify the water-soluble poisons found in nature. In what may be the only defensible use of Olestra, researchers have used the fake fat to increase excretion of a broad variety of toxins.

The most important obesogens are found in common everyday life and are difficult to avoid unless you really try:

The “plasticizers” phthalates for instance, are ubiquitous. An estimated 1 billion pounds are produced each year worldwide. The Environmental Working Group reports that phthalates are found in toys, food packaging, hoses, raincoats, shower curtains, vinyl flooring, wall coverings, lubricants, adhesives, detergents, perfumes, nail polish, hair spray and shampoo. Even vinyl ICU hoses used for premature babies have been found to contain phthalates.
PCBs have been added to plastics, inks, adhesives, paints, and flame retardants. as well as being used as coolants and lubricants in electric equipment. PCBs are in the air and water, and many people are exposed to them through eating certain fish — especially those highest on the food chain.
Bisphenol A (or BPA) is found in hard plastics, including baby bottles, food-storage containers, water coolers, dental fillings, canned food tins and in sunglasses.

It is estimated that 93 percent of the US population had bisphenol A, a chemical that can be found in canned goods, in hard, clear plastic items such as baby bottles and polycarbonate water bottles, in their body. Mice fed Bisphenol-A during early devolopment in University of Missouri studies grew up to be fatter than those who weren’t. Similar studies cited in a government report found fat, feminization of males and greater incidences of breast and prostate cancer. The fat research was replicated in rats at Tufts University. The industry group representing plastic manufacturers declares ” scientific evidence shows that bisphenol A . . . does not have any effect on body weight,” according to Steven Hentges, its vice president.

A trial in Maine found 100% of people studied had phthalates in their blood.

Blumberg also studied the antifungal agent tributyltin, used in marine paints to keep ship hulls free of barnacles. Female mollusks exposed to the chemical were seen to grow male sex organs. Lab mice exposed to tiny levels of tributyltin during prenatal development became fatter adults than those not given the chemical. “It predisposed them for life,” said Blumberg. This chemical gets into sea water and then into the seafood we eat.

The mechanism by which babies born underweight are likely to be fatter later in life, may be like that where undernourished fetuses learn to use fat cells more efficiently and that efficiency gets embedded in their physiology. Researchers suspect the same thing may be taking place with chemical exposures.

If you are pregnant, avoid plastics and pesticides. Use glass or unlined steel water bottles. Clean your house with vinegar or lemon slices. Eat organic food. Use organic soaps and shampoos free from phthalates and natural cosmetics. Leave the area if someone is spraying for insects. Walk away from traffic. Take responsibility for the prenatal environment of your child.

Afterwards, breast feed as long as possible. Use glass baby bottles instead of plastic. Look for phthalate-free and BPA-free plastics and cloth or wooden toys and teething aids. Eat organic and use organic shampoos (or just pure soap and water) to clean with.

Sources below widget:

Look for books too!

Begley, Sharon. Born to Be Big: Early exposure to common chemicals may be programming kids to be fat. Newsweek. 9/11/09

Biello, David. Consumer Alert: Plastics in Baby Bottles May Pose Health Risk. Scientific American 4/21/08

Chen, JQ, Brown TR. Regulation of energy metabolism pathways by estrogens and estrogenic chemicals and potential implications in obesity associated with increased exposure to endocrine disruptors. Biochimica et biophysica acta. 2009 Jul;1793(7):1128-43. Epub 2009 Apr 5.

Daley, Beth. Is Plastic Making Us Fat? http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2008/01/14/is_plastic_making_us_fat/?page=1 Boston Globe.1/14/2008

Grün F, Blumberg B. Endocrine disrupters as obesogens Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2009 May 25;304(1-2):19-29. Epub 2009 Mar 9. Review. PMID: 19433244 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]

Grün F, Blumberg B. Minireview: the case for obesogens. Mol Endocrinol. 2009 Aug;23(8):1127-34. Epub 2009 Apr 16. PMID: 19372238 [PubMed – in process]

Newbold RR, Padilla-Banks E, Snyder RJ, Jefferson WN. Perinatal exposure to environmental estrogens and the development of obesity. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2007 Jul;51(7):912-7

Newbold RR, Padilla-Banks E, Snyder RJ, Phillips TM, Jefferson WN. Developmental exposure to endocrine disruptors and the obesity epidemic. Reprod Toxicol. 2007 Apr-May;23(3):290-6. Epub 2007 Jan 17,

National Toxicology Program. NTP Brief on Bisphenol A. 4/14/08 http://cerhr.niehs.nih.gov/chemicals/bisphenol /BPADraftBriefVF_04_14_08.pdf

Our Symbionts, Ourselves

July 31, 2009 Karen S. Vaughan 2 Comments

Only 10% of the cells in our bodies are human. Ponder that. We have easily a hundred trillion bacterial cells, not just in our gut but all over our body. They make us work: breaking down food into something we can assimilate, fighting infection, signaling our cellular processes, converting sunlight to Vitamin D, forming biofilms to protect us. We have fungi that break down wastes, yeasts that ferment and transform extra sugars, worms that can prevent autoimmune disease. Some of our bacteria themselves have viruses. We are walking colonies of organisms in a human superstructure.

I was lucky to have attended Berkeley in the ’70s when the theories of Lynn Margulis on evolution from bacteria were taking hold. Margulis holds that we started as colonies of microorganisms which specialized or cooperated with other kinds of colonies to form superstructures we recognize as species. She noticed that brain cells and sperm share characteristics with spirochete bacteria, positing that they evolved from bacteria that were gradually incorporated into the superstructure.

Since the 1880s when the mitochondria that power each of our cells were discovered, scientists have noticed their similarity to bacteria. They have their own DNA and yet live not only inside of our bodies, but inside of our cells and we would have no energy without them. Margulis calls them endosymbionts (“inside symbionts” or “inside organisms that live intertwined with us.”) We are composites of human and microrganism cells: some are totally independent, some form biofilms over our teeth or guts, some are incorporated into the superstructure.

This is true of plants and animals as well. Termites can’t digest wood themselves. It is not their gut bacteria, but the organisms that are symbiotic with the gut bacteria of the termites which can break down the cellulose. Plants have chloroplasts which act like mitochondria and their own microorganisms. Fungi provide a subterranean internet which allows forms of chemical communication throughout a forest.

Although we have some human genes, the microbes together contribute at least 1,000 times more genes to the whole. That is right, your genes aren’t entirely your own either. We use those genes, and they affect the epigenetic expression of our human genes.

The collective term for all your microflora is the microbiota, and it acts like a large organ. The microbiota breaks down food we can’t digest, processes toxic drug residues and filters them out of the nutrients we send to the blood, it makes vitamins that we need and generally protects our immunity. When it suffers an assault, say a course of antibiotics or a very bad diet, we get sick, just as we would if our lungs or liver were assaulted. We need to care for our symbionts.

How foods penetrate the leaky gut causing allergic reactions — The Probiotic organisms line the lumen and villi, protecting against large particles entering and helping prevent leaky gut or allergic reactions.

Parts of the natural health community has expressed fear of the larger symbionts- witness the rush to kill off “parasites.” Our immune systems have co-evolved with parasitic worms—living alongside then for millions of years has shaped the way our immune systems react to pathogens. We have five interleukin genes, which affect the immune system’s response to disease. These genes have evolved to deal with a variety of different pathogens, including viruses, bacteria, fungi and worms. Yet when the body has no parasites, none of the minor worms that have co-evolved with us, the part of our immune system that would attack the parasites attacks us instead, causing autoimmune diseases that are not present in areas of the world where people must deal with worms. And in fact there have been trials where providing benign worms to people suffering from asthma or Crohns has resolved the condition.

The gut is home to some hundred trillion bacteria, as well as other microbes, providing a living wallpaper to protect your body from irritating proteins or pathogens that come in with food. There are two major classes: firmicuites which include lactobaccili like acidophilus and bacteriodetes which include nonpathogenic varieties of E. coli. Fat and thin people have different balances of firmicuites and bacteriodetes, according to recent research by Ley and Gordon. Fat people have more firmicuites which help break down sugars and extract nutrients from food better.- we get more out of our food whether we need it or not. Thin people have more bacteriodetes which in overgrowth can cause diarrhea. The researchers were able to induce obesity in lean germ-free mice by implanting the gut bacteria of fat mice. Europeans have been able to get e-coli probiotics, which might assist in weight loss, but the FDA forbids their import into the US. (I tried!) fatmouse

Bacteria which we associate with disease, like H. pylori which is suspected as a cause of ulcers and esophogeal erosion also help us: H. pylori is associated with lower adenocarcinoma rates. Acidophilus which breaks down food is desirable in the gut but can eat away tooth enamel in the mouth. Fairly benign staph bacteria can outcompete serious bacteria like MRSA which are resistant to drugs and when they are eliminated by antibacterial soaps and sprays, the truly nasty bacteria are left.

So ease up on the antibacterial soap, throw out your Hulda Clarke parasite zapper and only worry about those worms that hurt your health or yeasts which have proliferated out of control because competitive organisms are not keeping them in check. And don’t avoid live fermented foods if you have a candida overgrowth: you want competition for the buggers. Miso, kefir, kombucha, yogurt, buttermilk, olives, blue cheese, sauerkraut, live pickles and kimchee are full of probiotics that can all help reinforce your gut flora. And don’t forget the prebiotic foods like inulin or FOS found in Jerusalem artichokes and onions, dandelion roots or chicory which feed your gut bacteria but cannot be fermented by yeasts.

Sources:

Endosymbiosis: Lynn Margulis http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/_0/history_24

Ecological and Evolutionary Forces Shaping Microbial Diversity in the Human Intestine http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0092867406001929

Gut Reaction: Environmental Effects on the Human Microbiota http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=2685866&blobtype=pdf

Immune Gene Evolution May Be Driven By Parasites http://www.dana.org/news/features/detail.aspx?id=22816

The Body Politic http://seedmagazine.com/content/print/the_body_politic/ (picture from this article.)

Gut Bacteria Do More Than Digest Food http://www.hhmi.org/bulletin/aug2010/features/gut_bacteria5.html

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Category Archives: obesity

Chemicals and Obesity: What if it isn’t all your fault?

Our Symbionts, Ourselves

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