There's More To It Than Calories

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"Despite what we've heard," said Dr. Bruce Blumberg, Professor of Developmental and Cell Biology and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Univeristy of California, Irvine, "diet and exercise alone are insufficient to explain the obesity epidemic."
Metabolic syndrome is estimated to affect more than one-third of U.S. adults, 60% of them under 65 years old.

Environmental factors suspected to contribute to metabolic syndrome include the food system, the transportation system, the built environment, air pollution, obesogens, other environmental contaminants, and socioeconomic stress.

These stressors alter pathways in the body, causing inflammation, oxidative stress, and disrupted insulin signaling. Altered pathways can, in turn, lead to diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and abnormal lipids (tied to dementia and Alzheimer's).

"Many of the afflictions we have as adults arise during development and early childhood," he explained, "as a result of the foods we eat, the chemicals we're exposed to, a variety of factors. We need a lot more research in this area to help us prevent chronic disease in later life."