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Phoenix666 [soylentnews.org] writes:

Benzyl butyl phthalate, a chemical commonly used in the food-manufacturing process, may increase fat stores in the body even before we’re born, according to a new study [futurity.org].

The researchers used animal stem cells to identify changes to the epigenome of the stem cell line when exposed to the chemical BBP when compared to a control. The cell lines exposed to increasingly higher levels of BBP also showed higher levels of adipogenesis—the process by which fat cells develop—as much as five times higher, depending on the dose.

“We were quite surprised by the results,” Mahua Choudhury, assistant professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy. “We had thought we would see some increase, but nothing this dramatic.”

There is no information on whether BBP-containing fixtures are only common in American food production lines, or are more universally used.

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