If you think it’s harder to lose weight, you may be right

If you have tried to lose weight and failed, but have seen your parents slim down more easily, your eating habits alone may not be to blame. A new study has found some surprising influences on our tendency to gain weight that have nothing to do with diet or exercise.

In their recent paper published in the journal Obesity Research & Clinical Practice, New York University researchers found that adults in 2006 with similar diets and lifestyles than adults of the same age in 1988 were more likely to be overweight. Those born later were five percent heavier, according to a Washington Post story.

The researchers suggested that several factors in modern life could be contributing to younger people’s weight control challenges. For example, most American today get less sleep and suffer more daily stress. The advent of new prescription drugs that have been linked to weight gain, including antidepressants, allergy drugs, steroids and pain pills, also may play a role. Americans today also eat many foods with new ingredients that may affect our microbiome, the bacterial colonies that help digestion and other functions. Impacts on the microbiome have proven to affect our bodies’ capacity to use energy.

Perhaps most intriguing is the potential affect that toxic chemicals in the environment may have on weight gain. Many studies have found that plastic chemicals, pesticides, and other environmentally persistent chemicals can impact our metabolism and hormones, potentially affecting the bodies’ food processing and fat storage.