An interesting article in the Daily Mail.

Not for the first time I have come across this topic, certainly there has been talk of the use of plastic bottles. It's not a good idea to reuse those plastic bottles that contain water over and over again as there can be some leakage of the chemicals into water. It is much better to purchase a bottle specially designed for this purpose or use glass, it can be washed throughly in a dishwater or very hot soapy water or recycled. Too often too do we use packaged processed foods instead of fresh foods many too are reheated or cooked in a microwave in their plastic containers. I am not saying we should abandon heating or cooking food in a microwave but transferring into a glass or ceramic container is the better option.

I do feel though that this is only a small part of the growing obesity epidemic, people are getting lazier, as the years go by there are more and more gagets to help us about the home and too many to encourage folk to sit on their growing butts so I don't believe we should put much blame on so called 'gender-bending chemicals'.

Eating patterns begin in early childhood. Children are born with a sweet palate, this is natures way of helping the human race survive, food that is unripe or off is generally NOT sweet, so its up to the parents to educate their children in foods that are good for them. Children use their parents as a role model and if you have encouraged your baby and toddler to try a wide variety of foods and they see you eat the same, they will naturally want to copy you. Research has also shown that babies taste buds are influenced in the womb as the flavours of what the mother eats gets into the amniotic fluids, therefore babies are primed with what they will eat, likewise what the mother eats influences the flavour of breast milk. Conclusion parents you are responsible for your little persons's diet from birth to adulthood.

Another anomaly is babies won't starve themselves, when you introduce weaning, if you allow your toddler to dictate to you, you are simply kow towing to faddy eaters as they grow up.

If you have a balanced, diet containing, plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables and you get a moderate amount of exercise, and you don't need to have a gym membership either, I'm talking about walking and using the stairs rather than lift and not sitting down all day, you wont reach obese proportions.

We are all responsible for ourselves, its too easy to blame this that and the other for obesity. Think about the logic of it, with physics, it takes a set amount of fuel, fuel = food to propel a mass, mass = body across a given distance. The bigger the mass the more fuel its going to need to move it. In other words; the fatter the body more food has to be put into it to shift it, so in the obese they must be eating copious amounts of food just to sit and be awake never mind move around. Of course if you don't move around all this fuel you are putting into the body will be stored as fat and it becomes a vicious cycle. No one is to blame for your obesity bar yourself and people do forget what they consume in a day, the little nibbles here and there often aren't counted.

Before you make a change keep a strict diary of every morsel you consume, over a week, note everything, weigh everything, snacks, drinks, nibbles the lot and tot up the calories honestly, you just might see why and its not to do with plastics!

Obesity is being 'fuelled by gender-bending chemicals in toys and tin cans'

The chemicals may also help trigger diabetes
Calls to reduce exposure especially in pregnant women

Gender-bending chemicals in mobile phones, toys and sunglasses may be fuelling the obesity epidemic

Gender-bending chemicals in mobile phones, toys and sunglasses may be fuelling the obesity epidemic, a report warns today.

The chemicals – which are unavoidable in the modern world – may also help trigger diabetes, the review of hundreds of individual pieces of research concluded.

Some are found in mobile phone cases and tin cans, others in shampoos and shower curtains.

The report’s authors called for urgent action to reduce exposure – particularly among pregnant women and those planning to start a family.

Some experts described the report as ‘alarming’, but others said the key to good health is in what we eat and drink.

The warning comes from a report commissioned by campaign group CHEM Trust.

It was put together by Spanish and South Korean researchers after they sifted through more than 240 studies on obesity, pollution and type 2 or adult-onset diabetes.

They concluded that the evidence that chemicals can lead to weight gain in animals is ‘compelling’.

Proof in humans is more limited but this is partly because of the ethical and practical difficulties of testing the theory on humans.

They added that the link between environmental chemicals and diabetes in people was first made more than 15 years ago and that the volume and strength of evidence has been ‘particularly persuasive’ since 2006.

Some of the chemicals are found in mobile phone cases and tin cans, others in shampoos and shower curtains

Many of the chemicals of concern mimic or interfere with the effect of hormones, leading to them being described as ‘gender-bending’.

Some of these hormones control appetite, while others affect the storage of fat.

Dr Tim Lobstein, of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, said: ‘People trying to lose weight will be undermined by these chemicals which they cannot see, cannot taste and do not know how to avoid.

‘This alarming report highlights the need for government action,’ he added.