It is common knowledge that eating health and exercising can help you maintain a good weight, but many are unaware that chemicals in the products we buy and use can be a factor. Kathleen Schuler of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy said an emerging body of science links increased risk of obesity to chemicals that disrupt hormones, especially during prenatal life and in childhood.
“One of the effects can be changing the cellular path ways to accumulate fat,” Schuler said. “And so, we’re finding that many of the chemicals that we’re exposed to every day are what we call obesogens, or chemicals, that contribute to fat accumulation.”
It is estimated that in Arizona more than one in seven children and nearly two thirds of adults are overweight or obese.