A dusty home can make you fat, research suggests

It’s time to put down the TV remote and pick up a feather duster instead.

Shocking new research published in the journal of Environmental Science and Technology suggests that dust can actually make you fat.

According to researchers from Duke University, dust is actually full of chemicals responsible for weight gain, which isn’t good considering dust can be inhaled, ingested or absorbed through the skin.

Once inside the body, the chemicals cause fat cells to accumulate more triglycerides - the main constituents of body fat in humans – leaving them full and forced to create more.

“Amounts of dust as low as 3 micrograms - well below the mass of dust that children are exposed to daily - caused measurable effects” study author Dr Heather Stapleton said.

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That’s terrifying, considering the US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that children consume 50 milligrams of house dust each day.

Lab tests were done with dust samples that researchers collected from 11 homes in North Carolina. Of those samples, seven samples triggered the pre-adipocytes to develop into mature fat cells, the researchers found.

Only one of the samples had no effect.

It seems if we want to keep trim, in addition to eating healthy and exercising, looks like we’ve got to get dusting.

So if you’re already a neat freak – congrats!

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