M6.7 Obesogens

Local Produce

Locally grown produce are seasonal fruits and vegetables that are grown in close proximity to where one lives. Buying locally sourced food has many benefits. For example, buying locally reduces food miles, also known as the miles the food travels to get from the farm to the consumer. The average food miles for produce in the grocery stores are 1500 miles! As you can see, this has a significant impact on carbon emissions due to airplane travel. Additionally, buying local supports your local economy and puts money directly into the pockets of your hard-working community farmers. Lastly, there is a clear distribution path from the point of harvest to the consumer. This helps mitigate any delay in recalling potentially contaminated foods. Moreover, the consumer can easily identify if the food came from a farm that uses organic and ethical farming practices. 

Hospital Menus  

Hospitals should lead by example and encourage their patients to make healthy dietary choices by supplying locally grown fruits and vegetables. I appreciated that the article provided some tips for hospitals trying to make this transition. Some of these ideas included posting signs to educate patients, starting to offer one meal per week, and using the redesigned menu as a marketing strategy. I worked at a children's hospital that had a terribly unhealthy and processed food menu. After years of receiving complaints, the hospital finally took action. The hospital starting growing fruits and vegetables onsite to supply ingredients for the cafeteria. The menu was also redesigned to include organic foods that were more sustainably produced. This made a significant difference in patient satisfaction rates. Furthermore, it exemplified healthy eating and cooking so parents and children knew what good food choices looked like. 

Harvest Calendar

I have not previously paid much attention to local foods that are in-season when purchasing produce. Using a harvest calendar, I found that artichokes, asparagus*, celery, lemons, brussel sprouts, strawberries, oranges*, tangerines, sweet potatoes, and avocados* are currently in-season within my state. The produce with asterisks are the fruits and vegetables that are available locally. Using a harvest calendar will allow me to explore and get creative with different produce.    

Obesogens

I had never heard of obesogens and found this topic to be quite fascinating. As a healthcare provider, I was also taught that obesity is a result of genetics, poor food choices, and a lack of exercise. With more emphasis always placed on the latter two reasons. After reading this article, I feel I had an "ah-ha" moment. This makes perfect sense as to why there has been an unprecedented increase in obesity rates over the last several decades. With rates rapidly increasing, there must be something besides diet and a lack of exercise causing the problem. Chemicals are mimicking hormones and disrupting natural growth and development. Babies exposed in utero to certain chemicals will have more adipose cells than those babies not exposed. This higher percentage of adipose cells means they will be heavier than their counterparts and will struggle to lose weight. 

For example, one of these chemicals is DDE (dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene), a chemical that is formed during the breakdown of DDT containing pesticides. DDE has significant side effects when humans are exposed. It is a probable human carcinogen, but evidence is insufficient to definitively classify as one. In animals, it has shown to cause liver and thyroid cancer. Human exposure to DDE can cause incident diabetes, increased risk of testicular germ cell tumors, fetal loss, GI cancers, lung cancer, and preterm labor. It was associated with differences in height and childhood asthma among children exposed in utero. Conversely, DDE exposure was not associated with a difference in birthweight, pancreatic cancer, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, breast cancer, or uterine cancer. Interestingly, ToxNet did not reference articles that link DDE to an increased risk of obesity.