In a recent study, the amount of Chemicals found in everyday products like plastics, soap or nail polish leads to obesity, Phthalates are chemicals that give plastic its bendy stretch.

Phthalate exposure can be closely associated with the rise of different types of disease development," said the study's lead author Lei Yin, from the University Of Georgia (UGA).

"Obesity is one of the big issues in humans now, and of course genetic components can contribute to the development of obesity," said Xiaozhong Yu, an assistant professor at UGA.E

Environmental exposure may also contribute to obesity," said Yu.

"It could be that some chemicals at a very low dose and over a long period time, which is known as chronic exposure, can cause more harmful diseases or effects," she said.

The researchers quantified lipid droplet accumulation using traditional staining approaches, in which the cells are stained and therefore can be visually assessed under a microscope, and a newer approach called cellomics high-content analysis.

Although the findings cannot be directly generalised to the human population, they do give an indication of a possible link between exposure to BBP and obesity, something that could affect human health.