Is your shampoo making you fat?

Emerging evidence suggests that a more sinister reason than food and activity could be contributing to weight problems and that so-called ‘chemical calories’ lurking in everyday beauty products such as shampoo, body lotions and soap could be to blame.

Doctors at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York claim that phthalates, chemical ingredients in 70 per cent of cosmetics as well as many household cleaning products, have been shown to throw the body’s natural weight control system, a delicate balance of hormones, off kilter.

They suggest that exposure to phthalates through daily use may be linked to childhood obesity and weight problems in adults.

In their long-term study on girls living in the inner city area of East Harlem, the Mount Sinai team measured exposure to phthalates by analysing the children’s urine.

‘The heaviest girls have the highest levels of phthalates in their urine,’ says Professor Philip Landrigan, a paediatrician and the study author. ‘It goes up as the children get heavier, but it’s most evident in the heaviest kids.’

[link to www.dailymail.co.uk]