M6.7: Obesogens

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Seasonal & Local Food

I recently read The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. This book encouraged me to try and eat as locally and seasonally as possible. The information presented in this article and the resourced websites only reinforced that notion. Eating locally and in season is better (and tastier) for us and better for the environment.

Living in California, I find that we are quite lucky in our selection of seasonal fruits. I grew up in Wyoming. Wyoming is a land-locked state where not much farming is done. Out of curiosity, I looked up seasonal foods on the Seasonal Food Guide (https://www.seasonalfoodguide.org/). In early March, there are only five types of produce available. Chives, horseradish, morels, mushrooms, and chives. I then changed the location to California, and found a much, much larger selection of produce available in early March: arugula, avocados, beets, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, celery, citrus, grapefruit, green beans, kiwi, lemons, lettuce, onions, oranges, parsnips, … the list was extensive. This makes sense, as we have learned, California produces more than half of our country’s produce.

When it comes to hospitals and even schools and workplaces, I believe we should incorporate seasonal foods and support local farms. It is important that these entities take initiative because they have a huge impact on our communities. If we have it available to us, then we should take advantage of that. As the article states, it supports our local farmers, can be more cost-effective, improves food safety and the environment, and provides us with tastier, healthier meals.

Here is a vegetable Harvest Calendar for the Bay Area:


(from: https://cuesa.org/eat-seasonally/charts/vegetables)

Obesogens

Before reading this article, I had not heard of obesogens. However, I do remember reading an article for one of the previous modules that stated that BPA was causing weight gain in rats. This article further discusses the effects of different chemicals (obesogens) on weight gain. Again, the chemicals in our foods, drink, beauty products, household products and furniture should be regulated.
While this information is interesting and can help research in weight gain or loss, it would be important to mention that a balanced diet and exercise are still essential in maintaining a healthy weight. As research increases on this topic, we should focus on prevention and education on what to eat, drink, and what products to purchase. 

I chose to do a search on monosodium glutamate (MSG) on ToxNet. MSG is common in Asian foods and is used as a flavor enhancer and has been associated with something called Chinese Restaurant Syndrome (CRS). Symptoms of CRS include headache, weakness, stiffness, flushing, heartburn, and/or difficulty breathing. In addition, I found that “conventional toxicity studies using dietary administration of MSG in several species did not reveal any specific toxic or carcinogenic effects nor were there any adverse outcomes in reproduction and teratology studies (Walker & Lupien, 2000, p. 1049S). And that, “Overall, it appears that normal dietary MSG use is unlikely to influence energy intake, body weight or fat metabolism (Brosnan, Drewnowski, & Friedman, 2014, p. 2075).”

References

Brosnan, J.T., Drewnowski, A. & Friedman, M.I. (2014). Is there a relationship between dietary MSG obesity in animals or humans? Amino Acids, 46 (9). 2075. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-014-1771-6

Walker, R. & Lupien, J.R. (2000). The safety evaluation of monosodium glutamate. Journal of Nutrition, 130(4S, Suppl). 1049S. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10736380?dopt=Abstract

Comments

  1. Ashley SubramaniMarch 5, 2018 at 9:45 AM

    Hi Loren,

    I looked into MSG too. I think that in very low amounts, it won't have a drastic effect on one's health. But over consumption of it is likely the cause for it to be a carcinogen. It is valuable to know other factors that result in obesity. Having this information will help enhance preventive measures aimed at obesity.

    ReplyDelete

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