Recent scientific studies have proven that retinoid X receptors (RXR) are heavily influenced by the pollutant tributyltin, which is used extensively in chemical substances and in pesticides. When RXR are triggered, they influence the nuclei of animal cells to promote the growth of fat storage cells. Even the entire metabolism can be adversely affected, if sufficient amounts of tributyltin accumulate in the body.

 

It has been known for a long time that this chemical triggers a "stacking" effect in fish and shellfish, in that it doesn't leave their bodies. Instead, concentrations continue to grow until they cause the death of the host organisms. In human use, these substances are controlled to ensure little to no negative effects, but, at times, scientific research digs a little deeper and discovers that things are not as safe as the company producing these substances would have us believe.

 

Because fat storage cell growth is directly influenced by tributyltin, scientists have concluded that the dangerous chemical indirectly paves the way for the onset and development of obesity, a disease that affects about half of the US population, according to the most recent surveys. In turn, obesity jeopardizes human life, and it also promotes such diseases as diabetes, which significantly decrease a person's quality of living.

 

Graduate University for Advanced Studies researcher Taisen Iguchi and Yoshinao Katsu, in Japan, in a study published in the December 2008 issue of BioScience, draw attention to the fact that ever-increasing use of pesticides containing tributyltin on high-value crops closely matches the rate at which obesity has skyrocketed over the last 40 years.

 

Other pollutants, such as bisphenol A and nonylphenol, also promote the growth of fat storage cells. These substances are present in our daily lives as well, and their influence on the human body now seems to have been analyzed shallowly. Combine that with the fact that most people have very poor eating habits, consuming high-protein foods, fats, sugars and cholesterol almost daily, and you get the perfect recipe for the onset of obesity.