Your cell phone could be making you fat -- but probably not in the way you think
Here’s some news that could ruin your day.
Researchers at the University of Houston have found a possible link between use of electronic devices and obesity. But it’s not that our beloved devices keep us glued to their screens, thereby avoiding exercise.
Instead, the fault may lie with flame retardants that keep cellphones and computer tablets from overheating, according to findings by the University of Houston’s Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling.
Research on two common flame retardants, conducted on sibling zebra fish, found that the fish exposed to the compounds became heavier and longer, compared with their untreated brothers and sisters in the control group, the university said.
At the human level, we are often subject to inhaling dust that contains the two flame retardants – tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) and tetrachlorobisphenol A (TCBPA), which are used to keep electronics from overheating. The compounds are found in computers, cellphones, televisions, tablets, video game consoles and other high-tech devices with electrical chips that could catch fire if they get overheated, according to a UH news release.
“It’s been shown that young children, who spend a lot of time on the floor, have higher levels of these compounds in their blood than adults,” Maria Bondesson, a research assistant professor of biology and biochemistry at the UH center, said in a prepared statement.
These compounds, which can also be passed through breast milk, are very common, UH said, with about 150,000 tons of TBBPA and 10,000 tons of TCBPA produced each year.
The flame retardants’ prevalence led the researchers to expose zebra fish to the compounds at relatively low concentrations, resulting in the finding that the treated fish became heavier than the ones that weren’t treated, the university said.
The UH Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling received a $375,000 grant from the National Institutes for Environmental Health Sciences, a division of the National Institutes of Health, to work on a study of compounds that lead to obesity, called obesogens.
Researchers at the University of Houston have found a possible link between use of electronic devices and obesity. But it’s not that our beloved devices keep us glued to their screens, thereby avoiding exercise.
Instead, the fault may lie with flame retardants that keep cellphones and computer tablets from overheating, according to findings by the University of Houston’s Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling.
Research on two common flame retardants, conducted on sibling zebra fish, found that the fish exposed to the compounds became heavier and longer, compared with their untreated brothers and sisters in the control group, the university said.
At the human level, we are often subject to inhaling dust that contains the two flame retardants – tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) and tetrachlorobisphenol A (TCBPA), which are used to keep electronics from overheating. The compounds are found in computers, cellphones, televisions, tablets, video game consoles and other high-tech devices with electrical chips that could catch fire if they get overheated, according to a UH news release.
“It’s been shown that young children, who spend a lot of time on the floor, have higher levels of these compounds in their blood than adults,” Maria Bondesson, a research assistant professor of biology and biochemistry at the UH center, said in a prepared statement.
These compounds, which can also be passed through breast milk, are very common, UH said, with about 150,000 tons of TBBPA and 10,000 tons of TCBPA produced each year.
The flame retardants’ prevalence led the researchers to expose zebra fish to the compounds at relatively low concentrations, resulting in the finding that the treated fish became heavier than the ones that weren’t treated, the university said.
The UH Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling received a $375,000 grant from the National Institutes for Environmental Health Sciences, a division of the National Institutes of Health, to work on a study of compounds that lead to obesity, called obesogens.
You can return to the main Market News page, or press the Back button on your browser.
