Milk bottles can cause ... obesity!

Chemicals used to produce baby bottles or plastic wrap can lead to obesity. That is the unifying result of three separate studies presented on May 14 at the European Conference on Obesity in Geneva (Switzerland).

Studies have shown that newly born mice placed in cages with chemicals in plastic food products or even boat paints tend to be obese when they grow up.

In the first study, maternal rats (with varying feed intake and different levels of exercise) were reared in cisphenol A cages, a substance commonly used in plastic food containers and bottles. Result: pups grow into fat mice.

The second study, locked pregnant mice in cages containing perfluorooctanoic acid, was used in products such as popcorn bags. Result: mice born abnormally small but when they grow up they are overweight.

In the third study, pregnant mothers were treated with tributylin, a substance found in humans. Soon, a genetic program will be triggered in pups and make them become obese mice later on. Tributylin is also a chemical in food wrap and fungicide.

According to experts, these findings may change the perception of obesity as well as treatment, especially when this situation is increasingly alarming. The World Health Organization has estimated that by 2015 there will be over 700 million people suffering from obesity in the world.

"If these findings are true for people, then we have to shift our perspective of adult weight loss to prevent weight accumulation," said Jerry Heindel of the US Environmental Health Sciences Department. in the development process by reducing the use of those materials ".