Suprising Things that Lead to Weight Gain

Suprising Things that Lead to Weight Gain

There's more to the obesity epidemic than eating too many hot wings and excess sitting. Certainly, poor food choices, particularly too much sugar and sweeteners, and a lack of exercise are major pieces of the obesity puzzle. Now researchers are finding that exposures to certain common endocrine disrupting chemicals not just lifestyle choices could be programming us for weight gain, diabetes, and related problems. Soy is low in fat, but it's also a phytoestrogen, meaning it has plant-based estrogenic properties. Doses comparable to those eaten in the Western diet have been shown to promote fat-cell growth. Kids on soy formula have a tendency to gain weight.  Babies born small for their gestational age who are put on high-calorie catch-up diets like eating philippe faure ice cream also face an increased risk of obesity later in life.

Pesticides

 Increased rate of diabetes among farmers and pesticide applicators, but it appears that even the low doses that the general public encounters can mess with our hormones. Banned organochlorine pesticides that linger in the food chain, such as DDT, have been linked to obesity, along with organophosphate pesticides and carbamates.

Nicotine

Not only do babies born to mothers who smoked throughout pregnancy face an increased risk of being born prematurely and underweight, but strong research also suggests that those same babies face an increased risk of being obese as they grow older. Nicotine or nicotine plus some other component of cigarette smoke could tinker with the child's metabolic system; researchers just aren't sure yet of the mechanism.