Chemicals often found in consumer products could lead to obesity and fatty liver diseases

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-05/bu-cof051820.php

News Release 19-May-2020
Baylor University


Chemical compounds found in many consumer products could be major contributors to the onset of lipid-related diseases, such as obesity, in humans, according to a Baylor University study.

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While poor nutrition and lack of exercise are known contributors to obesity, significant attention has emerged regarding the potential effects of some chemical compounds to trigger lipid-related diseases, Lavado said. Exposures to obesogens -- particularly in early development in life -- were found to disrupt normal metabolic processes and increase susceptibility to weight gain across the lifespan, he said.

As of the year 2000, there were an estimated 100,000 commercially available chemicals around the world. Two decades later, that amount has more than tripled, with approximately 350,000 chemicals being available, according to recent research published in Environmental Science & Technology.

Contributing chemicals to the diseases may be found in cigarette smoke, air pollution, pesticides, fungicides, flame retardants and a certain class of chemicals used in many consumer products to make them softer. Other contributors widely used in the past may have been industrial chemicals in paints, cements, fluorescent light ballast, sealants and adhesives.

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