M6.7 Blog: Obesogens

Seasonal/local foods on hospital menus is a great way to change the way the food industry is organized. Hospitals produce large amounts of food for it’s guests and patients every day. Each city has multiple hospitals and a change in the way they source their food can greatly reduce the food miles and further support local farmers. Universities would be another great place to initiate change since it serves thousands of students and faculty each day. As we read from the article, there are potential cost savings to switching local. As consumers are more educated today, I doubt that there would be major backlash from these large organizations trying to implement seasonal menus.

I am moving to NYC in a few months so I was interested in learning more about the Harvest Calendar for the state. I will admit that there are some items I commonly use year round, which include broccoli and tomatoes, but they are only in harvest during the summer months of the year. It looks like there are far less produce available between the months of Jan-May, but I think that this would be manageable for me. I will just need to find local farmers market and special grocery stores. I do not think this would be an issue in a large progressive city like NYC. 

Prior to the article, I had never heard of obesogens. I had to immediately look this word up because it was so foreign to me. The more I progress through the class, the more understanding I am of the adverse health effects from chemicals. Though we cannot see obesogens’ direct effect on obesity, studies indicate that there is a connection. There are some obesogens that are also considered to be persistent organic pollutants. 

An obesogen that most people know of is BP-A. This is found in lining of bottles, plastics, cans, and even baby bottles. There have been large scale efforts to reduce the use of BPA and consumers know to look for items that say "BPA-free". I am hoping that other compounds will follow suit and consumers will demand for safer products to be made.