This column was originally published in the March issue of the Cumberland Times-News Health Journal. It was prepared  as part of Allegany College of Maryland’s (ACM) Integrative Health Core Curriculum Project (IHCCP).  A collaborative initiative between ACM faculty and health professionals from five Community Partner agencies (Western Maryland Health System, Archway, Allegany County Health Department, Family Crisis Resource Center, and HRDC Aging Services), the Project’s goal is to introduce evidenced-based mind/body medicine approaches into academic education and community health/mental health practice. This article is the seventh in a series on food as medicine.

OK, as predicted last month, I blew Small Chew # 2. No one’s perfect.

And to be totally honest, I even blew Small Chew # 1 this month.  But the worst part wasn’t that I blew it, it was that I was discovered and exposed by one of my students who had read my previous articles in the Health Journal. Just my luck she happened to wonder by as I happily stuffed my mouth with a large and luscious donut one morning at the College.

“Betcha that has a bunch of trans fats and High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) in it. You know, the ‘crust and rust’ stuff you wrote about. Explains why you are always losing your keys.  And our papers.”

Seeing the noticeable wince on my face, she pauses and soothingly offers this olive branch: “Well, it beats having Alzheimers. At your age, that’s gotta be a concern.”

Ouch.

So, uh, anyway, let’s move on to another nutrition topic. One that’s only slightly less depressing than HFCS and trans fats and crust and rust brain syndrome. Like obesogens.

Obesogens. Never heard of this? Well, I hadn’t either until last fall when I read an article in Newsweek by Sharon Begley, the magazine’s highly respected science writer.

In her September 21, 2009 article , “Born to Be Big” , Begley challenges the old “calories in-calories out” model of weight control and the belief that the obesity epidemic is solely the result of our super-sized, high calorie diets, the lack of exercise, and our couch potato personalities.  If these are the aspects of American culture that have resulted in about 60% of our citizens being  overweight, she asks, how do we explain the fact  that the rate of obesity in children under 6 months has risen 73% since 1980? Babies never have exercised, it’s hard to supersize formula or breast milk, and “lying around” is what babies are supposed to do.

Endocrinologist Robert Lustig of the University of California (UC) and other scientists concur with Begley: “This epidemic of obese 6 month olds poses a problem for conventional explanations of the fattening of America.”

So what’s up?

UC Irvine biologist Bruce Blumberg contends that lifestyle choices are not enough to explain the growing obesity epidemic. Dr. Blumberg  is one of a growing number of researchers who are studying industrial pollutants used in plastics, food packaging, and cosmetics that trigger dramatic increases in body fat. He has coined a term for the compounds that corrupt the normal function of cells: obesogens.

“It makes a lot of sense that chemicals able to reprogram metabolism and favor the development of fat cells could be important contributing factors to obesity,” says Blumberg, professor of developmental & cell biology and pharmaceutical sciences. “The role of obesogens in fat accumulation raises questions about the effectiveness of just diet and exercise in helping people lose pounds and maintain a proper weight.”

And these obesogens also raise questions about early life exposure to even small amounts of environmental chemicals. Studies published on children who were exposed to pesticides in utero found that the more they were exposed, the greater their risk of being overweight as toddlers.

Begley’s article goes on to explain the effects pollutants have on the fetus or the young child’s genes. First of all, they change precursor cells into fat cells – cells which stay with the person for life. And they may also alter metabolic rate, causing the body to hoard calories rather than burn them.  Finally, obesogens may act on the brain by continually sending messages of hunger. A triple whammy.

Retha Newbold of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in North Carolina (part of the National Institutes of Health) summarizes the findings this way: The evidence now emerging says that being overweight is not just the result of personal choices about what you eat, combined with inactivity. Exposure to environmental chemicals during development may be contributing to the obesity epidemic.”

Not sure what can we do about that problem. I’ll just have to chew on it for a while and get back to you in April.

Better that than chewing the fat, right Lea?!

Cherie Snyder is a professor at Allegany College of Maryland and directs the Human Services and Integrative Health programs. She also serves on the faculty of the Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington, DC. She can be reached at 301 784 5556 or 5557 …after she has finished her donut.