Fishing for Fat

Though fish is a must-have item on every dieter’s menu, a new study by Michigan State University researchers has found that some fish may actually cause the pounds to pile on. More than 250 mothers and their children who live along and eat fish from Lake Michigan were tested for their exposure to DDE – a chemical component that results from the breakdown of now-banned insecticide DDT. Compared to the group with the lowest levels, those with intermediate levels of DDT gained an average of 13 pounds excess weight over the last decade, and those with higher levels gained more than 20 pounds of excess weight.

This is just the latest evidence that pollution may be contributing to the obesity epidemic. Some scientists believe that when even low levels of DDT and other toxic compounds known as “obesogens’ seep into our diet through fish, fatty meats and plants they throw the production of hormones responsible for fat production off kilter, signaling the body to gain and store fat more readily. In frogs and rats at least, this has proven true in the lab, but the Michigan study is the first of its kind to directly link eating pollution-tainted fish to weight gain. "This line of research can transform how we think about the causes of obesity …" says the study’s lead author Janet Osuch.