Hi Everybody,
OBESOGENS- “Obesogens” are chemicals found in our food and water that alter our hormones. Most obesogens are “endocrine disrupters” that cause excessive levels of estrogen in the body, leading to obesity. This means that you can become obese not from eating too much, but from being exposed to chemicals that make you fat. MSG (monosodium glutamate) is one example of a chemical known to promote obesity that is found in our foods.
Blumberg, a researcher, believes that exposure to obesogens early in life causes irreversible obesity problems. Blumberg believes these people will fight a life-long battle with the battle of the bulge. However, reducing more exposure as adults may reduce the overall expression.
Blumberg noted that obesogen exposure early in life didn’t necessarily “doom you to be fat”, but that “…it will change your metabolic set points for gaining weight.” All the more reason to avoid MSG and processed foods in general, especially in the foods you feed your children.
YOUNG DIABETES- In related news, it has been found that exposure to gluten (wheat, barley, rye and maybe oats) and dairy during the first six months of a child’s life increases his/her risk of Type 2 Diabetes dramatically. In fact, it seems to give them a 6 times greater chance of developing Type 2 Diabetes later in life.
This seems to be due to gluten and dairy injuring the lining of the gut before it has a chance to get strong, which results in “leaky gut syndrome”. In a side note, goats milk seems not to have this effect, perhaps because its chemical makeup is so similar to human breast milk.
INSULIN RESISTANCE IN UTERO- Insulin resistance is one of the earlier steps leading to diabetes. The body is overwhelmed with so much sugar that insulin is ever-present in the bloodstream, and the body eventually becomes desensitized to it. It takes increasingly larger and larger amounts of insulin to do the same job.
Some of the newest research has found that Insulin Resistance can begin while the child is still in the uterus. Basically, the worse the mother’s diet while she is pregnant, the more likely the child will develop Insulin Resistance in later life.
Hope this helps,
Dr Matt and Dr Robin
mattandrobin@yahoo.com (email)
This week’s bit of Useless Information: The female meadow vole can start reproducing when she is only twenty-five days old and gives birth to sixteen litters per year.
This email is courtesy of Matthew Barnes, D.C. and Robin Barnes, D.C. Neither this nor any of our emails are intended to be medical advice and should not be taken as such. They are opinion and are for informational purposes only. None of the nutrients discussed here are meant to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease.