Obesogens

[cooljethro]

What To Know About Obesogens

Is it unavoidable for certain people to become fat with all of the obesogens in the environment and in the products we consume, even if calorie intake and exercise are worked upon?

Bisphenol A is an obesogen and you can ingest that simply by eating or drinking something from a can....

What do you know of obesogens?

Discuss.

 

[JayLapointe]

Some people may burn fat more easily than others, but it still will always come back to a very simple thing, you can not gain weight if you consistently burn more calories than you consume.

We don't gain weight by anything other than what we put in our mouths. Put less in your mouth and move your body more, you will loose weight. The problem isn't so much "obesogens", by and large people are really really really astoundingly bad at actually keeping track of how much they consume. Sauces, drinks, toppings, condiments, huge calorie sinks most people don't think about. They also have no damn idea on what a reasonable portion size is.

It isn't rocket science, or even complicated, folks that are of a healthy body weight by an large have something in common, they don't over eat and they are active people.

Twice now in my life I've dropped 60+ pounds. With no gimmics or fad diets, I just made a point to have some physical activities in my life more days a week than not, and I avoided crap foods and empty calorie sugar drinks. Low and behold, each time after a few months once I got to enough activity the weight rolled off and stayed off till guess what, I stopped being active and started consuming crap food again.

I am perpetually amused by the all the folks looking for new pills, or fad diets, or magic workouts when really it's just being consistent. Consistently active, and consistently eating a balanced diet. They want the results but they don't want to put in the actual effort. And so, it's all Obesogens fault, not the person being a lazy overeater.

 

[cooljethro]

In the past, experts believed that weight gain was a result of eating more calories than your body needed to function. Excess energy from food is stored in our bodies as fat, so the idea is that eating more than you need results in fat gain. In recent years, doctors have found that sometimes people who change their eating and activity levels still don’t lose weight.

One possible explanation for this inability to lose excess weight is metabolic changes caused by exposure to chemicals. For several decades, researchers have noted that lab animals gain weight when they are exposed to specific substances. Scientists realize now that those substances are endocrine disruptors, which means these chemicals affect the normal function of hormones in animals and people.

 

[monkeyclogs]

Some people may burn fat more easily than others, but it still will always come back to a very simple thing, you can not gain weight if you consistently burn more calories than you consume.

We don't gain weight by anything other than what we put in our mouths. Put less in your mouth and move your body more, you will loose weight. The problem isn't so much "obesogens", by and large people are really really really astoundingly bad at actually keeping track of how much they consume. Sauces, drinks, toppings, condiments, huge calorie sinks most people don't think about. They also have no damn idea on what a reasonable portion size is.

It isn't rocket science, or even complicated, folks that are of a healthy body weight by an large have something in common, they don't over eat and they are active people.

Twice now in my life I've dropped 60+ pounds. With no gimmics or fad diets, I just made a point to have some physical activities in my life more days a week than not, and I avoided crap foods and empty calorie sugar drinks. Low and behold, each time after a few months once I got to enough activity the weight rolled off and stayed off till guess what, I stopped being active and started consuming crap food again.

I am perpetually amused by the all the folks looking for new pills, or fad diets, or magic workouts when really it's just being consistent. Consistently active, and consistently eating a balanced diet. They want the results but they don't want to put in the actual effort. And so, it's all Obesogens fault, not the person being a lazy overeater.

my dietician would strongly disagree. this might very well be how your body works but bodies aren't all the same and factors like hormones, DNA and certain medications for unrelated conditions definitely do alter metabolism (even in the same body over the lifetime of a person).

trust me as someone recovering from a restrictive eating disorder it is not a straight calories in, calories burned situation that affects weight. i've obsessively tracked both calories and weight it isn't a simple equation.

i fully agree that a lot of people eat poorly. (don't get me started on the role of culture and poverty in food choices but better access to nutritious food choices would certainly help). I also agree that a lot of people aren't as active as they need to be. But I fundamentally disagree with your assertion that all overweight people are lazy overeaters.

 

[cooljethro]

Yep, lazy overeaters do exist, but there are probably a lot more people that are consuming obesogens and those obesogens are the primary reason for their weight gain.

Obesogens such as psychiatric medications that promote weight gain and make it difficult to lose weight, or Bisphenol A in water bottles or sugar free soda cans, or phthalates in cosmetics to name a few - all of these can contribute to metabolic changes that promote obesity.

Add to that, some people are genetically predisposed to be weight gaining versus others.

 

[cooljethro]

Some obesogens can trigger your body to make new fat cells. In some cases, the new cells may be unusually large

Obesogens may disrupt the usual way fat cells work so that they can’t release stored fat. If your body can’t access fat to use as energy, the fat stores never go down.

Some obesogens may affect your hypothalamus, the part of your brain that controls appetite. The hypothalamus releases hormones that signal hunger and other hormones that tell you when you’re full. In animal studies, certain chemicals affected that process.

 

[monkeyclogs]

Yep, lazy overeaters do exist, but there are probably a lot more people that are consuming obesogens and those obesogens are the primary reason for their weight gain.

Obesogens such as psychiatric medications that promote weight gain and make it difficult to lose weight, or Bisphenol A in water bottles or sugar free soda cans, or phthalates in cosmetics to name a few - all of these can contribute to metabolic changes that promote obesity.

Add to that, some people are genetically predisposed to be weight gaining versus others.

the psychiatric meds thing is definitely true. when I came off one of my meds I lost weight much quicker without changing anything in my activity or diet. This is absolutely NOT weight loss advice. if your primary reason to come off psych meds is weight loss it is definitely a bad idea

 

[Outdated]

There's a few different factors that contribute to weight gain, or lack of ability to gain weight in some people. Chemicals so prevalent in today's world will certainly be another contributing factor but to blame them alone would be very misleading.

Genetics plays a role, some of us are born predisposed to being on the heavier side and some of us struggle to maintain enough body fat to remain healthy. But once again to blame that alone would be very misleading.

By far the biggest contributor to being over weight is what we eat. The sheer volume of food many people eat is a huge problem but it's a lot more complex than just "eat less".

For the people that struggle with overeating the concept of "going on a diet" is very destructive because it implies that you only need to eat less for a few weeks and then you're all good again. They are destined to fail before they even begin because of that misleading concept. To correct overeating habits requires a permanent lifestyle change, the habit needs to be broken for ever, not just for a week or two.

What we eat is every bit as important as how much we eat. Many years ago my sister had trouble with a busy life, she found herself having less energy and also putting on weight even though she believed she was eating healthily. She went to see a dietician who studied what she was eating and then told her straight out "Stop eating so many vegetables and salads, you're not getting anywhere near enough protein in your diet for the life you're trying to live."

The dietician gave her a recipe book titled Beef, Beef, Some Fish And More Beef. My sister lived by that recipe book for a month determined to prove the dietician wrong but the dietician turned out to be right.

 

[Lou Laurinen]

my dietician would strongly disagree. this might very well be how your body works but bodies aren't all the same and factors like hormones, DNA and certain medications for unrelated conditions definitely do alter metabolism (even in the same body over the lifetime of a person).

trust me as someone recovering from a restrictive eating disorder it is not a straight calories in, calories burned situation that affects weight. i've obsessively tracked both calories and weight it isn't a simple equation.

i fully agree that a lot of people eat poorly. (don't get me started on the role of culture and poverty in food choices but better access to nutritious food choices would certainly help). I also agree that a lot of people aren't as active as they need to be. But I fundamentally disagree with your assertion that all overweight people are lazy overeaters.

I totally agree, as someone who battled anorexia for half my life, now eats very little and is an athlete (hockey player), but is still on the “curvy” side… something people rarely discuss about eating disorders is that it’s very difficult to go back to a “skinny” body type after recovery. ED’s destroy your metabolism and your body.

I also suffered from endometriosis, had a full hysterectomy years ago, which forced my body into early menopause, which did not help.

At least I take up more space in the net than a skinny goalie

 

[mw2530]

Has anyone viewed pictures from decades ago? Or even view family photos from years ago? Such as from the 40's or 50's and maybe even more recently from the 80's or 90's. Very few people are overweight. But today, being overweight or obese has been normalized. As someone who is lean, I feel like an outsider.

So what has changed? Lots of things. More people rely on quick, processed foods, rather than taking the time to cook and eat real foods. People are generally not active and don't exercise. There are more jobs that are sedentary than in the past. Schools barely have gym class and have fewer recesses. Genetically modified food. More chemicals such as pesticides contaminating our food. Busier lives. Technology. Culture. Sugar. Sugar. Sugar. Sugar. Sugar. Artificial sweeteners. Government not doing anything to protect people from these risks. In fact, the government has made the problem worse by subsidizing sugar.

The consequences. Overweight people and obesity. Depression. Anxiety. Chronic conditions. Less people in relationships and having children. Poor quality of life. Lower life expectancy.

It all is just very sad. Unfortunately, I never hear politicians discussing how big of an issue this is. The ironic thing is we have more devices than ever to monitor health, and have more health knowledge than ever before, yet health has been declining for decades.

 

[Crossbreed]

Obesogens...?
It does not sit well with me that this is a Latin-Greek portmanteau.
Why didn't they go with "lipogens...?"

 

[Outdated]

Has anyone viewed pictures from decades ago? Or even view family photos from years ago? Such as from the 40's or 50's and maybe even more recently from the 80's or 90's. Very few people are overweight. But today, being overweight or obese has been normalized. As someone who is lean, I feel like an outsider.

That is very true and relevant to so many countries around the world, a lot of what you say after that though seems to be specific to your own country. Some governments take a very active interest in their population's general health.

In Australia a lot of US produced foods are classed as unfit for human consumption and in some cases are considered toxic due to chemical additives. You can buy a lot of US brands in Australia but they're manufactured in Australia according to our public health policies. So you can get Mountain Dew in Australia but it comes in a neon yellow bottle and if you pour it in to a glass you'll notice it's completely clear like Sprite because those chemical food colourings are illegal here.

If you go to a fast food place like McDonalds here you'll notice a drastic difference in the size of drinks and fries, what in the US is considered small is the large size here and there's no "free refills" of soft drinks, by law. We had a huge crackdown on that industry back in the 80s and set minimum guidelines for the standards of food they're allowed to offer and by law they have to offer more balanced and nutritional meals.

More recently we've put easy to understand health star ratings on all of our products. At first this rating on the packages was voluntary but not enough companies picked up on it so we've now made it compulsory for all products including imported foods.

Having lots of nice parks with outdoor gym equipment encourages people to get out and exercise more too.

But I think by far the biggest impact on public health is going to come from our social media ban for under 16s. I believe this will encourage kids to get outside and play like kids a lot more. It's the habits we form when we're young that are the hardest to break and not being able to sit inside and doom scroll through social media posts all day should give them a chance to form healthier habits.

So why does our government show such an interest in public health? Because our government pays for our health so it's in their best interests to try and keep us healthier. Universal free health, it's for everyone regardless of wealth or income, if you're a citizen you're covered from birth until death. A simple example of how this works is our sunscreen, here it's government subsidised because subsidising sunscreen is a lot cheaper than trying to cure cancer.

All of that said, we do still have an obesity problem in Australia although not as bad as the US.