Dust components may promote obesity
But indoor particles’ health impacts remain fuzzy
By Beth Mole
Dust bunnies that breed under furniture may be bad news for waistlines, a new study suggests. But it’s far too early to add dusting to a weight loss plan, researchers caution.
Components of indoor dust may signal human fat cells to grow and may alter metabolism, potentially contributing to weight problems, researchers report July 14 in Environmental Science & Technology.
“What that means to long term health and certain diseases, we don’t know yet,” says coauthor Heather Stapleton, an environmental chemist at Duke University. But, she says, the finding that dust contains bulge-inducing components, dubbed “obesogens,” raises the question of whether the contaminants play a role in the obesity epidemic.