(10-03-16) BPA Makes You Fat

By Dr. Mercola
In the U.S., about 75 percent of men and 67 percent of women are now either overweight or obese. This has risen significantly from figures gathered between 1988 and 1994, when "just" 63 percent of U.S. men and 55 percent of U.S. women were overweight or obese.1,2
Complicating matters, research published in Obesity Research & Clinical Practice found that the same caloric intake and exercise program would result in a body mass index (BMI) that is about 5 pounds higher in 2006 than it would have been in 1988.3
In other words, in order to maintain the same weight as in 1988, today you'd need to exercise more and eat fewer calories. The results suggest "factors other than diet and physical activity may be contributing to the increase in BMI over time," but what factors, exactly?4
This remains to be seen, but increasing evidence suggests environmental chemicals, particularly endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are playing a role.
Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals Linked to Significant Disease and Dysfunction
Endocrine disruptors, a number of which are found in plastic products, electronics, cleaning products, and even food, are similar in structure to natural sex hormones such as estrogen, thereby interfering with their normal functions. As stated in a report by the Environmental Working Group (EWG):5
"There is no end to the tricks that endocrine disruptors can play on our bodies: increasing production of certain hormones; decreasing production of others; imitating hormones; turning one hormone into another;
… [I]nterfering with hormone signaling; telling cells to die prematurely; competing with essential nutrients; binding to essential hormones; accumulating in organs that produce hormones."
Recent research published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism further revealed that exposure to EDCs in the European Union are likely to contribute substantially to disease and dysfunction and result in about $209 billion in health and economic costs.6
Among the chemicals known to be EDCs are:
Diethylstilbestrol
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
Dioxins
Perfluoroalkyl compounds
Solvents
Phthalates
Bisphenol-A (BPA)
Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE)
Organophosphate and organochlorine pesticides
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)
The study further noted EDCs play at least a probable role in the following conditions:
IQ loss and associated intellectual disability
Autism
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
Childhood and adult obesity
Prostate and breast cancers
Adult diabetes
Cryptorchidism (undescended testicle)
Male infertility
Mortality associated with reduced testosterone
Male and female reproductive dysfunctions
Cardiopulmonary disease
Immune dysregulation
How Computer Simulations May Make Chemicals Appear Safer Than They Really Are
As research mounts showing BPA's risks to human health and the environment, it remains largely unregulated in the U.S.
This lack of action in the face of apparent risk may be traced back to physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling, which is a method of using computer simulations to measure the health effects of chemical exposures.
PBPK is commonly used by regulatory toxicologists for chemical risk assessments, but there are concerns about its accuracy.
While the computer models allow scientists to determine what concentrations of a chemical end up in certain organs, and how long they may take to exit your body, they reveal nothing about the chemical's effects.7 As reported by Independent Science News:8
"PBPK simulations made testing faster and cheaper, something attractive to both industry and regulators. But the PBPK model has drawbacks …
Many biologists say PBPK-based risk assessments begin with assumptions that are too narrow, and thus often fail to fully capture how a chemical exposure can affect health.
For example, a series of PBPK studies and reviews by toxicologist Justin Teeguarden of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., and his colleagues suggested that BPA breaks down into less harmful compounds and exits the body so rapidly that it is essentially harmless.
Their research began with certain assumptions: that BPA only mimics estrogen weakly, that it affects only the body's estrogen system, and that 90 percent of BPA exposure is through digestion of food and beverages.
However, health effects research has shown that BPA mimics estrogen closely, can affect the body's androgen and thyroid hormone systems, and can enter the body via pathways like the skin and the tissues of the mouth.
When PBPK models fail to include this evidence, they tend to underestimate risk."
BPA: The 'Poster Child' of Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals
Bisphenol-A (BPA) was first created in 1891 by a Russian chemist. By the 1930s, it was found to mimic the effects of estrogen in the human body. Still, in the 1950s BPA found its way into industry, as a chemical that could produce strong, resilient and often transparent plastics.
BPA is also used to make BPA resins, which keep metal from corroding and breaking. As such, it now coats about 75 percent of cans in North America. The chemical is surrounded in controversy as research continues to build that it's detrimental to human health.
Yet, the BPA market was valued at over $13 billion in 2013, and sales are set to expand 5 percent annually. As of 2012, 10 billion pounds of BPA were produced worldwide, sales of which amount to tens of millions each day.9
Most Americans have BPA in their blood, usually in the range of 1 part per billion (ppb).10
This might seem like too miniscule an amount to cause problems — and that's just what regulators and chemical companies have long stated — but 'endocrine disruptors like BPA, which act like hormones, don't 'play by the rules,' says Patricia Hunt, a geneticist at Washington State University."11
According to Hunt, "exposure to low levels of BPA — levels that we think are in the realm of current human exposure — can profoundly affect both developing eggs and sperm."12
BPA has been linked to a number of health concerns, particularly in pregnant women, fetuses and young children, but also in adults, including:
Structural damage to your brain
Changes in gender-specific behavior, and abnormal sexual behavior
...

Source: drmercola.com

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