Are pesticides in vegetables harmful? What are some health side effects you can get from pesticides? We all know how increasingly the use of pesticides in common vegetables and fruits we eat is wrecking havoc on our overall health. From diarrhoea to digestive complications, the consumption of fruits and vegetables containing pesticides can affect you in many ways. In a recent study, it has been proven that a commonly-used pesticide could be partially responsible for the global obesity epidemic. Chlorpyrifos — widely sprayed on fruits and vegetables in many parts of the world — slows down the burning of calories in the brown adipose tissue of mice.
According to the data, obesity is responsible for 4.7 million premature deaths each year.
Wondering how does this happens? According to the experts, this pesticide can reduce down the calorie-burning process of the body a process known as diet-induced thermogenesis, which causes the body to store these extra calories and promotes obesity. According to the results of the study, the researchers made the discovery after studying 34 commonly used pesticides and herbicides in brown fat cells and testing the effects of chlorpyrifos in mice fed high-calorie diets.
Also read: How You Can Reduce Exposure To Pesticides In Fruits, Vegetables
Brown Fats – Here’s What To Know
Speaking to the media about the study and the results, Gregory Steinberg, Professor of medicine at McMaster said, “Brown fat is the metabolic furnace in our body, burning calories, unlike normal fat that is used to store them. This generates heat and prevents calories from being deposited on our bodies as normal white fat. We know brown fat is activated during cold and when we eat.” He further added, “Lifestyle changes around diet and exercise rarely lead to sustained weight loss. We think part of the problem may be this intrinsic dialing back of the metabolic furnace by chlorpyrifos.”
The authors of the study also said that while several environmental toxins including chlorpyrifos have been linked to rising obesity rates in both humans and animals, most of these studies have attributed the weight gain to increases in food intake and not the burning of calories. According to the data, obesity is responsible for 4.7 million premature deaths each year. The condition is also known as a risk factor for several of the world’s leading causes of death, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and various types of cancer.
This post first appeared on The Health Site
