M6.7 Blog: Obesogens
Articles:Seasonal Foods: A New Menu for Public Health
Obesogens: An Environmental Link to Obesity
It is great to have this type of information at our finger tips. This helps to ensure that what we are eating is local and fresh. I utilized http://www.simplesteps.org/eat-local/state/california to find what is currently in season in my area of Davis, CA. Through this location, I was able to determine that the following is currently in season:
- Apples
- Asparagus
- Avocados
- Pistachios
- Celery
- Grapefruit
- Broccoli
- Bok Choy
- Beets
- Mushrooms
- Onions
- Lettuce
- Tomatoes
- Chard
- Brussel sprouts
- Cabbage
- Carrots
- Spinach
- Peas
- Fava beans
I think that utilizing seasonal/local foods as part of hospital menus is a fantastic idea. Hospitals play a vital role in improving community health, and serving fresh locally grown foods is a great way to promote healthy eating, and to ensure those staying in the hospital are receiving nutritious meals while they recover. As a result of receiving better tasting meals patient satisfaction would likely increase as well. Additionally, if hospitals buy seasonal/locally grown foods it helps to support the independent farmers in the community. Having a consistent money stream coming in, will assist in ensuring independent farmers are able to thrive in a culture that is increasingly turning to industrial farming. Also, by purchasing locally, the hospitals would likely save money. This is due to the fact that contracts from local farmers tend to cost less since local farms are located closer to the hospitals versus the large industrial farms. Being closer to the source of food, results in lower shipping and packing costs. In the end both the hospitals and the local farmers win by this arrangement.
Find a Harvest Calendar for your state (or a state you are interested in) utilizing the link in the first article (found underneath the example Harvest Calendar for New York State).
Below is a Harvest Calendar for the state of Arkansas:
What are your thoughts on the second article? Have you heard of obesogens before?
I found the article on obesogens very informative. Prior to reading this piece, I had not heard of obesogens before. Like most people I have attributed the increasing rates of obesity to diet and physical activity alone. It had not occurred to me that the toxins that we are exposed to on a daily basis could be connected to this global epidemic. Even our animals are becoming obese. The fact of the matter is, we do not know/understand the full extent of what side effects these combined toxins have on the human body. I will be interested to read about future studies that are conducted on this topic. It is one that needs to be explored, and data is needed to reveal if obesogens are a theory, or if they are in fact a reality.
Pick one of the potential obesogens discussed in the article and using your resources from earlier modules (such as toxnet), do some research on this potential obesogen. Share what you found!
I chose the potential obesogen dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE). After researching this item, I found the following information:
- DDE is a major breakdown product of DDT
- DDE is a probable human carcinogen.
- Exposure to DDE can cause liver and kidney damage.
- Exposure to DDE increases the risk of testicular germ cell tumors (TGCTs).
- Populations at special risk of DDE include: individuals with diseases of the nervous system, liver, or blood.
- Oral ingestions of food is the primary sources of exposure for the general population.
- Ingestion of contaminated drinking water, inhalation of contaminated air and dermal contact with contaminated soil surfaces are also possible routes of human exposure.
- Tissue storages of DDE in the general population originate almost entirely from dietary DDE rather than DDT conversion
- Retrieved from: http://www.simplesteps.org/eat-local/state/california
- U.S National Library of Medicine. Toxnet. Retrieved from:https://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search2/f?./temp/~3yiYc2:1
Hello Angie! This was a very informative post. I defiantly did not know about obesogens before reading these articles. I think it is interesting that some of these chemicals are so common in our environment yet we have little to no knowledge about it. I think the government needs to start funding for more research and not putting these issues on the side because they are not as obvious as other issues.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I think that it's great to see that fruits and vegetables are grown year round in Kansas. I also agree that it is important that hospitals provide fresh fruits and vegetables to their patients as it can further help (even a little), their recovery process.
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