Childhood Obesity Caused By Environmental Toxicity   & The Western Diet

Have you ever wondered why there is a pandemic of obesity spreading around the world, affecting adults as well as young children? Well, there is surprising research coming to the fore that is putting the blame on the toxic world that we live in!

Dysoxygenosis

Dr. Majis Ali, M.D., a renowned researcher in natural medicine and toxicology writing in The Principles and Practice of Integrative Medicine Volume V summarizes this well:

"Misinformation about the science of health, eating depleted and denatured foods, and chemicalization of our cells put them together and you have a very effective prescription for causing a massive epidemic of obesity. All those factors eventually lead to dysoxygenosis in adipocyte and myocytes. That, simply stated, is the tragedy of epidemics of obesity and diabetes that we witness today. If we wish to understand the links between obesity and many other disorders, again we need to consider the basic scientific aspects of oxygen homeostasis, cellular energetics and energy homeostasis in the body."

Endocrine-Disrupting Xenobiotics

Masumo et al in 2002 showed that the estrogenic endocrine-disrupting chemical Bisphenol A (found in hard polycarbonate plastics for baby bottles, drinking water bottles, and food containers) at very low concentrations, in the presence of insulin, stimulated differentiation of fibroblast cells into adipocytes. Perchlorates (rocket fuel) also inhibit the uptake of iodine into the thyroid gland, reducing the production of thyroid hormone at very low levels of exposure - this can also lead to obesity.

Researchers at the University of California in San Francisco have determined that a key reason for the epidemic of paediatric obesity, now the most commonly diagnosed childhood ailment, is that high-calorie, low-fibre Western diets promote hormonal imbalances that encourage children to overeat.

The Journal Nature in August published a study by Dr. Lustig, professor of clinical paediatrics at the University of California Hospital, saying that food manufacturing practices have created a "toxic environment" that dooms children to being overweight.

"It will take acknowledgement of the concepts of biological susceptibility and societal accountability and de-emphasis of the concept of personal responsibility to make a difference in the lives of children," Lustig says.

The number of children in the US that are overweight have doubled in the last 30 years (National Institutes of Health). Currently about 20% of children, or one child in five is overweight. The increase is true for children and adolescents of all age groups and races and for boys and girls.

Overweight children tend to become overweight adults, which also puts them at greater risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. Children who are obese also are socially ostracized and teased, putting them at risk for depression and other psychiatric conditions.

"Our current Western food environment has become highly 'insulinogenic,'" Lustig says, "as demonstrated by its increased energy density, high-fat content, high glycaemic index, increased fructose composition, decreased fibre, and decreased dairy content."

"In particular, fructose (too much) and fibre (not enough) appear to be cornerstones of the obesity epidemic through their effects on insulin," he adds. Diseases that once were only seen in adults, like type 2-diabetes, now are occurring in increasing numbers in children, according to Lustig. We also know from other research that Methylmercury Induces Pancreatic â-Cell Apoptosis and Dysfunction, leading to diabetes.

Insulin and Leptin Resistance

Lustig says that it has long been known that the hormone insulin acts on the brain to encourage eating through two separate mechanisms. First, it blocks the signals that travel from the body's fat stores to the brain by suppressing the effectiveness of the hormone leptin, resulting in increased food intake and decreased activity. Second, insulin promotes the signal that seeks the reward of eating carried by the chemical dopamine, which makes a person want to eat to get the pleasurable dopamine "rush."

Calorie intake and expenditure normally are regulated by leptin, Lustig says. When leptin is functioning properly it "increases physical activity, decreases appetite, and increases feelings of well-being." Conversely, when leptin is suppressed, feelings of well-being and activity decrease and appetite increases -- a state called "leptin resistance."

Changes in food processing during the past 30 years, particularly the addition of sugar to a wide variety of foods that once never included sugar and the removal of fibre, both of which promote insulin production, have created an environment in which our foods are essentially addictive, he adds.

Lustig also notes that children cannot be blamed or expected to take personal responsibility for their dietary behaviour in an environment when the foods they are offered - especially cheaply prepared "fast foods" that are full of sugar and devoid of fibre - are toxic.

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