I’m on a diet. I’ve been on a diet or breaking my diet pretty much since I was in third grade. I currently own black and navy blue suits in sizes 6, 8, 10 and 12. I’ve probably given a dozen very nice size 12 suits to Goodwill in my life, so certain I would never be a 12 again. With the 6’s, I never give up.

So this news piqued my interest: researchers from several leading universities now believe that even tiny exposures to common chemicals might pre-program children to be obesity-prone from birth. The article is from the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The culprits? Tobacco (my mom smoked Marlboro Reds) and a little something called bisphenol A – a chemical that NRDC’s hotshot scientist Jennifer Sass has been working on. The Union-Tribune article includes this quote from Frederick vom Saal, a biology professor at the University of Missouri:

"You set up a metabolism that is entirely different from what it would have if it were not exposed." The result: Exposed mice are normal-weight at birth, but grow fat with age.

Working with Dr. Sass – ok, Jen – to get the word out about her bisphenol A work, I’ve been pretty horrified to see what this stuff can do to you, and how many places it’s lurking. It’s in plastic food and drink packaging, baby bottles and in resins that are used to coat food cans, bottle tops, and water supply pipes. So if you eat or drink anything – you’re ingesting it.

The National Institutes of Health are trying to figure out how bad bisphenol A is, and what to do about this. So they’re listening to these smart scientists, right? Wrong. They’re listening to the chemical industry of course! Who better to tell you that the chemicals in your Tupperware and your Nalgene bottle are safe?

Eat right and exercise, I know. I am. But what if my -- and America's -- losing battle with our waistlines (thighs, upper arms) is getting harder and harder based on a chemical we eat and drink out of every day?