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Link Between Chemical Exposure And Childhood Obesity Unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle have been recognized to be the biggest culprits responsible for childhood obesity epidemic, but there is a growing body of research suggested that environmental chemicals might play a role in childhood obesity. In 2012, researchers from the Children's Environmental Health Center at The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York have identified a link between exposure to the chemical group known as phthalates and obesity in young children. The study was published online in January 2012 in the journal ‘Environmental Research’. The phthalate concentrations in the urine of 387 black and Hispanic children in New York City were measured and one year later, their body measurements including BMI (body mass index), height, and waist circumference were recorded. The urine tests indicated that more than 97 percent of study participants had been exposed to phthalates, which could be found in personal care products like perfume, lotions, and cosmetics; varnishes; and medication or nutritional supplement coatings. The phthalates included monoethyl phthalate (MEP) and other low molecular-weight phthalates. Concentrations of these phthalates were also found to be associated with BMI and waist circumference among overweight children. For instance, the BMI of overweight girls with the highest exposure to MEP was 10 percent higher than those with the lowest MEP exposure. Nevertheless, researchers insisted that more research is needed to definitively determine whether phthalate exposure causes increases in body size.
In the same year, researchers from New York University School of Medicine suggested that children and teens having higher levels of the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) in their urine were more likely to be overweight or obese than children with lower levels. Their paper appeared on September 18, 2012 in the ‘Journal of the American Medical Association’. Being a man-made carbon-based synthetic compound, BPA is used to make certain plastics and epoxy resins. BPA-based plastic can be found among a variety of common consumer goods including baby and water bottles, sports equipment, and CDs and DVDs and for industrial purposes such as lining water pipes. Epoxy resins are used to coat the inside of many food and beverage cans, and it could also be used in making thermal paper used in sales receipts. Data from a nationwide health and nutrition survey conducted between 2003 and 2008 was analyzed. Almost 3,000 youngsters aged between 6 and 19 were weighed, measured and had their urine tested for BPA. They were also asked to answer a range of diet and lifestyle questions. Among all participants, about 33 percent of the participants were overweight and 18 percent were obese. 22 percent of them who had the highest BPA levels were obese, compared with slightly more than 10 percent of those with the lowest BPA levels, after taking into account how much the children ate, their age, race and gender. Though the findings did not prove that BPA could cause children to gain weight, researchers suggested that hormone-like chemicals could be a reason for the increase in childhood obesity. Ingesting extra BPA could throw off children’s hormonal balance and disrupt their metabolism. More than 15 percent of American children between the ages 6 and 19 are obese. In New York City, more than 20 percent of children in public schools are obese. The overweight or obese kids could develop many chronic diseases including diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and stroke later in their life. While there is accumulating evidence that BPA might be linked to obesity and related diseases like diabetes, most of the research was conducted on animals. In America, BPA has already been banned from baby bottles and sippy cups. But FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has not yet banned the chemical from aluminum cans and other types of packaging because there has not had any concrete proof that BPA could harm adults. There is no need for people to panic at this point, though it is better to avoid polycarbonate bottles, aluminum cans and other products containing BPA if there are other options.
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