As always, the article itself will be in black and my comments will be in red.
BPA's Obesity And Diabetes Link Strengthened By New Study
Great headline.
By Lynne PeeplesThe modern lifestyle of super-sized french fries and couch potatoes often takes the blame for the rising rates of obesity and diabetes in the U.S. -- perhaps rightly so. But growing evidence suggests another factor in the dual epidemics: modern chemicals.
No, they are right. People don't exercise and they eat the wrong things. This will lead to obesity.
Exposure to even minuscule amounts of synthesized substances -- used in everything from pesticides to water bottles -- can scramble hormone signals, scientists say. This interference can trick fat cells into taking in more fat or mislead the pancreas into secreting excess insulin, a hormone that regulates the breakdown of fat and carbohydrates.
Maybe but this is a little vague. Who is saying this and why are fit people not affected? I see pro athletes drinking from plastic water bottles all the time. I drink from plastic and have never had an issue. In fact weren't plastic bottles made popular because we were suffering from chronic dehydration and needed to carry water around with us all day? Oh, that was another scam. Pay for water.
Among the most ubiquitous and scrutinized of these so-called endocrine disruptors is bisphenol A, better known as BPA. The chemical is a common ingredient in plastics and food-can linings.
"When you eat something with BPA, it's like telling your organs that you are eating more than you are really eating," says Angel Nadal, a BPA expert at the Miguel Hernandez University in Spain.
Not a lot of information on Mr. Nadal in google. I wonder if he likes tennis? But he is not Dr. Nadal and the Miguel Hernandez University???
Nadal's latest research, published last week in PLoS ONE, ??? finds that the chemical triggers the release of almost double the insulin actually needed to break down food. High insulin levels can desensitize the body to the hormone over time, which in some people may then lead to weight gain and Type 2 diabetes.
To achieve this feat, BPA fools a receptor into thinking it is the natural hormone estrogen, an insulin regulator. Nadal's team found that even the tiniest amounts of BPA -- a quarter of a billionth of a gram -- did the trick. The effect disappeared when the researchers stripped the specific receptors from the study mice, evidence that they had in fact pinpointed BPA's chemical mechanism, which had previously eluded scientists.
In laboratory tests of human cells, the response was even more pronounced.
So a guy, also not a Doctor, is used as verification that this is true even though he wasn't involved with the study. But he is looking for a reason to indict BPA's and he seems to happy that Nadal , not the tennis player or a Doctor, has found something. I am not saying this is crap but it the credentials seem a little fuzzy here. if you can do these studies on mice, why can't yuou do them on humans? Do obese people have higher levels of BPA's?
An estimated 90 percent of people in developed countries have BPA circulating in their blood at levels often higher than the threshold for causing hormone disruption used in Nadal's study. This high incidence is due not only to exposures from leaching food packages but also BPA-infused cash register receipts, dental sealants and toilet paper.
Would then 90% of all people have trouble with obesity?
"People are seeing effects of BPA down to 1000-fold below [Nadal's threshold]," adds Frederick vom Saal, another expert in endocrine disruptors at the University of Missouri-Columbia. "It takes so little of this chemical to cause harm."
The chemical industry disagrees. "BPA is one of the most thoroughly tested chemicals used today and has a safety track record of 50 years," says Kathryn Murray St. John, a spokesperson for the American Chemistry Council, a lobbying group for the plastics industry. She highlights recent regulatory rulings in favor of the safety of BPA.
God I hate to agree with corporations, especially lobbying groups, but they seem to have actually done studies. Imagine the lawsuits if plastic actually did give you diabetes. Hey, does the Miguel Hernandez University have a law program?
Vom Saal, who also wasn't involved in the Spanish study, explains why the "standard estimates of safety" may be invalid. Minute amounts of the chemical may be even more potent than larger quantities, he says, which can flood the receptors and essentially turn them off, stopping the flow of insulin. In other words, the dose does not make the poison -- at least not in the ordinary sense. Yet the traditional dose-response assumption remains the basis for most regulatory tests that have deemed the chemical safe.
Wow, this is an argument. Too much poison won't do anything but a little will.Closes that loophole, doesn't it?
The consequences of the continued widespread use of BPA could be most dire for pregnant women and developing fetuses, who appear to be particularly sensitive.
"The fetus is not only exposed to BPA but also to higher levels of insulin from the mother, making the environment for the fetus even more disruptive," says Nadal. "This is a very delicate period."
Previous studies have suggested that the environmental chemicals in the womb can preprogram weight gain later in life. BPA, for example, may tell a growing fetus to develop more fat cells.
Nadal adds that BPA is just one of a larger cocktail of at least 20 endocrine disruptors commonly used in everyday items, including phthalates, nicotine, dioxin, arsenic and tributyltin. Further, obesity and diabetes aren't the only risks posed by the chemicals. Studies also hint at links with cancer, infertility, heart disease and cognitive problems.
See here you go. I bet you were waiting for the hook. BPA is just one of 20 disruptors that plague mankind. Therefore Mr. Nadal seems to be setting himself up for a lifetime of grants to study such things. Check the want ads, the Miguel Hernandez University should be hiring soon.
Overall, half of the developed world is now overweight and one in six is obese -- about double the numbers of 30 years ago. Huh??? Again see my article on BMI if you believe this. Approximately 250 million people suffer from diabetes worldwide.
Sure, our lifestyle has changed over the decades in parallel with the increased use of BPA. Yet scientists have noticed the same fattening trend in newborns, lab rodents, pets and wildlife that live in close proximity to humans. Have babies or mice really changed how much they eat or exercise? Experts highlight this as further evidence that more than just caloric intake is driving the current epidemics of obesity and Type 2 diabetes.
Or maybe this is because we have more food and more sedentary lifestyles. As a non doctor but avid tennis player, let me suggest that a mom who overeats during pregnancy passes more calories to her child than one who doesn't. What about obesity and genetics? Not all kids are born obese. In fact look around your local school and note that very few kids are obese. You get about the same ratio as when I was a kid. A couple of skinny kids, a couple heavy ones and everyone else in between.
"The scary thing is, this is occurring in children. Thirty years ago, we called Type 2 diabetes 'adult-onset,'" vom Saal says. That's not the case anymore.
Again, this is just my opinion and no I have not spent years studying BPA's. And maybe it was just the way the article was written but this is not a convincing argument. If you are going to say there is a link, then prove the link.
Visit me at http://www.mfactorfitness.com Michael Medvig is a personal trainer and owner of M Factor Fitness Inc., an in home personal training company in Parker Colorado. This blog represents opinions on fitness. Do your own research and draw your own conclusions. All information and materials on this site are provided as is and without warranty of any kind. These materials (including all text, images, logos, compilation, and design, unless otherwise noted) are copyright 2001-2010 M Factor Fitness Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright 2001-2010 M Factor Fitness Inc. All rights reserved. |
