Obesogens

Obesogens: No safe limit for our food or our skin.

Functional Formularies hopes to raise awareness around a group of chemicals, ingredients, and common household toxins that are proven to contribute to obesity and insulin resistance.  Collectively described as obesogenic, these substances interfere with communication channels within our cells and alter our metabolism.  Some of these obesogens are well studied and have become more familiar to consumers as they appear in headlines.  Others are less known by most Americans but are often just as damaging to human health.  There are numerous mechanisms by which they disrupt normal processes in the body.  Many are also classified as endocrine disruptors because they create a very potent estrogen-like effect on cells and a few are also carcinogenic, with strong links to specific types of cancer.  All of them however, are proven to increase a child’s risk of becoming obese.  Of course sugar consumption and a lack of physical activity are major causes, but the addition of these molecules to an individual’s chemistry creates an even more likely pattern of metabolic disease. Continue reading