Everyday plastic products could be contributing to weight gain | TheHill – The Hill

Peopletypicallyassociate junk food with weight gain and obesity, but new research suggestsmany ofthe plastic products used in everyday life, fromshampoo bottlesto dishsponges,mayplay a role inpackingon the pounds.

Researchers studied 34 different plastic productssuch asyogurt containers, drink bottles and kitchen spongesin a laboratory to see what types of chemicals theycontained.They foundmore than55,000 different chemical componentsandmanagedto identify629 ofthem.

Within that subset, they found 11 chemicals known to interfere with metabolism, called metabolism-disrupting chemicals.

Our experiments show that ordinary plastic products contain a mix of substances that can be a relevant and underestimated factor behind overweight and obesity, saidMartin Wagner, an associate professor at Norwegian University of Science and Technology,in a statement.

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Historically, scientists believed that most plastic chemicals stay within the materialtheyreused in, but Wagners team found that plastic products leachmanychemicals under real-world conditions, whichmeanstheyreable to enter the human body.

Wagners team also noted previous research has suggested that some plastics contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals that could affect a persons development and fertility, and Wagners new research is adding weight gain to that list.

About one-third of the plastic products investigated by Wagner and his research team were found to contribute to fat cell development in laboratory experiments, and these substances can reprogram precursor cells to become fat cells that then proliferate and accumulate even more fat.

However, while some plastic products did contain metabolism-disrupting substances, not all did. Some carried chemicals that could induce the development of fat cells,but theyrecurrently unidentified. At this point, scientists only know theycarry the potential to interfere with how the human body stores fat.

Its very likely that it is not the usual suspects, such as Bisphenol A, causing these metabolic disturbances. This means that other plastic chemicals than the ones we already know could be contributing to overweight and obesity, saidJohannes Vlker, the first author of the studywho isaffiliated withNorwegian University of Science and Technology.

TheU.S Department of Health and Human Servicesestimates that from 2017 to 2018,nearly1 in3 adults were overweightin the U.S.and more than2 in 5adults were considered obese.

Wagners research team estimated that2 billion people in the world are overweight, while 650millionfallunderthe obese category.

Thatcarriesseriousrisk, as the Centers for Disease Control and Preventionsays obesity is associated with poorer mental health outcomes and a reduced quality of life. Obesity is also associated with the leading causes of death in the U.S. and worldwide, like diabetes, heart disease, stroke and certain types of cancer.

Researchers' solution to plastic chemicalscontributing to weight gain is to scale back the use of plastics, writing, a shift toward chemically less-complex plastics represents a way forward to a nontoxic environment.

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Everyday plastic products could be contributing to weight gain | TheHill - The Hill