title: Obesity and metabolic comorbidities: environmental diseases?
abstract: Obesity and metabolic comorbidities represent increasing health problems. Endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) are exogenous agents that change endocrine function and cause adverse health effects. Most EDCs are synthetic chemicals; some are natural food components as phytoestrogens. People are exposed to complex mixtures of chemicals throughout their lives. EDCs impact hormone-dependent metabolic systems and brain function. Laboratory and human studies provide compelling evidence that human chemical contamination can play a role in obesity epidemic. Chemical exposures may increase the risk of obesity by altering the differentiation of adipocytes. EDCs can alter methylation patterns and normal epigenetic programming in cells. Oxidative stress may be induced by many of these chemicals, and accumulating evidence indicates that it plays important roles in the etiology of chronic diseases. The individual sensitivity to chemicals is variable, depending on environment and ability to metabolize hazardous chemicals. A number of genes, especially those representing antioxidant and detoxification pathways, have potential application as biomarkers of risk assessment. The potential health effects of combined exposures make the risk assessment process more complex compared to the assessment of single chemicals. Techniques and methods need to be further developed to fill data gaps and increase the knowledge on harmful exposure combinations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Medicine, Section of Medical Pathophysiology, Endocrinology and Food Science, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy. carla.lubrano@uniroma1.it
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lubrano
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Genovesi
authors.forename: Palma
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Specchia
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Costantini
authors.forename: Stefania
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mariani
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Petrangeli
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lenzi
authors.forename: Lucio
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gnessi
mesh_terms: D052244:Endocrine Disruptors / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000378:metabolism; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000378:metabolism; D009765:Obesity / Q000209:etiology*; D018384:Oxidative Stress
chemical_list: D052244:Endocrine Disruptors; D004785:Environmental Pollutants