UNH Researcher: 'Strong Link' Found Between Flame Retardants, Obesity

DURHAM, NH - Chemicals used as synthetic flame retardants that are found in common household items such as couches, carpet padding, and electronics have been found to cause metabolic and liver problems that can lead to insulin resistance, which is a major cause of obesity, according to new research from the University of New Hampshire.

The research was conducted by Gale Carey, a professor of nutrition, is funded by the NH Agricultural Experiment Station at the UNH College of Life Sciences and Agriculture. Carey and her team of researchers found that laboratory rats that were exposed to polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, experienced a disruption in their metabolism that resulted in the development of metabolic obesity and enlarged livers.

The research results are presented in the current issue of the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health. In addition to Carey, the research team includes W. Kelley Thomas, professor of molecular, cellular, and biomedical sciences, and director of the UNH Hubbard Center for Genome Studies; Kylie Cowens, a recent graduate of UNH’s master’s program in nutritional sciences; and Stephen Simpson, a laboratory technician at the UNH Hubbard Center for Genome Studies.

Last year, the team reportedly found to cause metabolic and liver problems.

In this research, fat cells isolated from rats dosed with high levels of flame retardants daily for one month developed a sensitivity to hormones that was similar to the sensitivity experienced by people who are overweight: the fat cells became more sensitive to epinephrine and less sensitive to insulin.

“One of the hallmarks of somebody who is becoming diabetic – and often this accompanies weight gain – is that their fat cells become sluggish in their response to insulin. With epinephrine, the fat cells more easily release the fatty acids into the blood stream and if those fatty acids are not used, they promote insulin resistance,” Carey saidin a press statement. “Those two features – insulin resistance and epinephrine sensitivity – are two features of fat cells from people who are above normal weight. And that’s what we were seeing in our rats. Even though our rats had not gained weight, they were experiencing ‘metabolic obesity’.”

Read the full news release here: colsa.unh.edu/aes/careyobesity2

Caption: Gale Carey, a professor of nutrition, and her team of researchers found that laboratory rats that were exposed to polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, experienced a disruption in their metabolism that resulted in the development of metabolic obesity and enlarged livers in rats.