Achievement

IGERT-LifeChips trainee, Amanda Janesick and IGERT advisor, Professor Bruce Blumberg wrote a chapter in Obesity Before Birth. The chapter, entitled,The Role of Environmental Obesogens in the Obesity Epidemic, discusses the history of obesogens and their role in the obesity epidemic. Obesogens are chemical compounds that can promote obesity by increasing the number of fat cells by changing the amount of calories burned at rest, by altering energy balance to favor storage of calories, and by altering the mechanisms through which the body regulates appetite and satiety. The authors conclude that prenatal exposure to obesogens is likely to be an underestimated contributor to the obesity epidemic. Rates of obesity have increased in infants, as well as children and adults. This suggests that obesity is being programmed prenatally or in early childhood. There is increasing evidence that supports the proposal that environmental chemicals may contribute to the prenatal programming of obesity.