Health & Fitness - Flame retardants a factor in rat obesity

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Flame retardants a factor in rat obesity

DURHAM, N.H. (UPI) -- Chemical flame retardants found in foam furniture, carpeting, microwaves and computers might play a role in rat obesity, says a U.S. study.

Flame retardants, or polybrominated diphenyl ethers, produced since the 1960s retard the combustibility of many products. They have been found to reduce human risk of death and injury by fire by 45 percent.

However, it's estimated U.S. consumers come into contact with up to 100 products containing PBDEs per day, according to Gale Carey, Anthony Tagliaferro and Deena Small of the University of New Hampshire in Durham.

Carey's preliminary data suggests chronic exposure to PBDEs could cause fat cells to become less sensitive to insulin, a forerunner to type 2 diabetes. The fat cells of growing male rats that were fed PBDEs daily for a month acted metabolically like the fat cells of obese rats, although the PBDE-fed rats weighed the same as a control group, said Carey.

"There's much more to obesity than eating too much McDonald's and not exercising," said Small.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International

This news arrived on: 03/12/2007

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