Obesity among Western men could be linked with exposure to substances containing the female sex hormone estrogen according to new research from the University of Adelaide.
Medical student James Grantham, who conducted the research compared the obesity rates among men and women from around the world with measures such as Gross Domestic Product to determine the impact of affluence on obesity.
Grantham said that in the Western world, such as in the United States, Europe and Australia, the rates of obesity between men and women were much closer and in some Western nations, male obesity was greater than female obesity.
Professor Henneberg said that exposure to estrogen was known to cause weight gain, primarily through thyroid inhibition and modulation of the hypothalamus and soy products contained xenoestrogens, and they were concerned that in societies with a high dietary saturation of soy, such as the United States, this could be working to 'feminize' the males.
The study is published in the online journal PLOS ONE.
