Before you apply that chic new nail polish on your freshly manicured fingernails or lather yourself with that new, sweet smelling soap, you may want to know that those items may lead to weight gain.

The culprit is the chemical called benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP) – yes, it is that same chemical responsible for increasing the risk of childhood asthma in unborn children – and new research suggests that it can affect the amount of fat that can be deposited in the body.

A study published in Toxicology In Vitro on April 20 titled "Benzyl butyl phthalate promotes adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes: A High Content Cellomics and metabolomic analysis" shows that higher exposure to BBP also causes the body to accumulate more fat, which may lead to obesity.

Researchers from the University of Georgia used fat cells from mice to study how fat cells accumulate in the body as they get more exposed to BBP. They then compared the results to the effects of bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical known for its role in fat accumulation, and found that they produced similar results. But what is more surprising is that not only was the process of fat accumulation similar, exposure to BBP also created bigger droplets in the test samples, suggesting that it actually absorbs more fat and may lead to obesity.

Assistant professor Xiaozhong "John" Yu, co-author of the study, explained that the results may not be a definite proof that BBP exposure can lead to human obesity since the samples their research team used came from mouse cells. However, he also noted that it opens up the possible link between BBP and human obesity.

"Obesity is one of the big issues in humans now, and [...] environmental exposure may also contribute to obesity," he said.

BBP is a toxic industrial chemical used in the production of many common items including soap and nail polish, as well as many polyvinyl chloride (PVC) products since it lends plasticity. Just knowing that the chemical is an ingredient in common items is, at the very least, troubling.

It is also not good news since a study on obesity already shows that one in eight people all over the world is already considered obese.