Educational Media Reviews Online

Obesity is a complex issue with far reaching concerns and repercussions. It may not only involve factors such as exercise, diet, willpower, and heredity but it may also have a connection to the man-made chemicals that we are exposed to both before and after we are born. This documentary presents scientific research and commentary on the link between endocrine-disrupting chemicals and our modern obesity epidemic.

Beginning with metabolism expert Dr. Paula Baillie-Hamilton’s questions, concerns, and research into her own difficulty in losing weight after the birth of her first child, this film connects the dots with her research and the research of other doctors and scientists around the world. Although the research and papers being published represent a medley of scientific interests and goals, Baillie-Hamilton finds a common thread that she believes provides answers to her own research on obesity. In short, man-made chemicals are changing the way our bodies respond to calories.

Prompted by Baillie-Hamilton’s research paper, other researchers began to notice and examine the weight gain effects on the subjects that they were working with in their own projects. From various studies such as the reproductive effects of a synthetic estrogen in mice to studies on the pesticide tributyltin, scientists soon began to investigate the possibility of fat inducing qualities in the chemicals that they were using on their subjects.

Historical data shows that newborn babies from 1950 onward are becoming fatter and that even animals living in close proximity to humans have grown fatter over time. Obesity rates have almost doubled in the last 30 years in every country with a Western lifestyle. The study of fetal origins finds that changes in birth weight can have great implications as predisposing factors toward the development of disease in later life. In the field of epigenetics they are finding that the way in which DNA is being expressed and the proteins that are formed during development are changing. All of this and more is presented in this documentary which does an exemplary job of analyzing and explaining many potential contributors to our modern obesity crisis using scientific data, expert analysis, and scholarly research. Beyond obesity, this film sounds the alarm on environmental chemicals in general and the fact that so much is not yet known and that not enough is being done to study, understand, and protect ourselves. The depth and breadth of information in this documentary is fantastic, it is top-notch in every way!