Connecting the chemicals in cosmetics to obesity

For the sake of our health and our weight, we’re used to carefully considering what we put in our mouths. What we aren’t so used to is choosing natural, organic cosmetics. We don’t give a thought to the products that we slather onto our skin, nails, and hair – products whose ingredients can be absorbed by, and accumulate in, our bodies.

Concern has been growing over the past few years about the link between chemicals in shampoo, body lotion, household cleaning products, and the bottles that they come in – and rising obesity. Studies such as those by Paula Baillie-Hamilton at Stirling University suggest that some of these chemicals can suppress the body’s production of adrenaline and dopamine, hormones that aid metabolism and weight loss.*  As these chemicals accumulate in our bodies, they can affect the hormonal balance, impairing the body’s ability to naturally monitor and maintain its own ideal weight.

Research has also been done at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York into some of these chemicals, specifically phthalates and Bisphenol-A (BPA). Studies on animals have shown these chemicals to depress testosterone levels, and to act in a similar way to oestrogen – both factors that have shown to be linked to weight gain in humans.**  Professor Philip Landrigan, who heads up this study, says that phthalates can be found in up to 70% of cosmetics. (You can read more about the dangers of phthalates in cosmetics on the Suvarna website here: http://www.suvarna.co.uk/phthalates-in-cosmetics.html)

More work in this area is accumulating, prompting calls for companies and legislation to limit what can be put in the products that are being absorbed into our bodies on a daily basis. In the meantime, we can all make sure that as well as eating healthy food, we take the time to choose cosmetics that do not endanger the health of our bodies, by going for natural, phthalate- and BPA-free, organic cosmetics.


* Laura Tuffrey, 12/01/12, ‘The Mother Who Exposed the Links Between Obesity and Common Chemicals’, in The Ecologist http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/1191047/the_mother_who_exposed_the_links_between_obesity_and_common_chemicals.html

** Peta Bee, 11/07/2011, ‘Is your shampoo making you fat? The truth about “chemical calories” in beauty products’, in The Daily Mail 
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2013283/Is-shampoo-making-FAT-The-truth-chemical-calories-beauty-products.html