Open AccessChildhood Obesity and Environmental Chemicals
Author(s) -
La Merrill Michele,
Birnbaum Linda S.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
mount sinai journal of medicine: a journal of translational and personalized medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1931-7581
pISSN - 0027-2507
DOI - 10.1002/msj.20229
Subject(s) - obesity , overweight , environmental health , childhood obesity , medicine , psychology , endocrinology
Childhood and adolescent rates of obesity and overweight are continuing to increase in much of the world. Risk factors such as diet composition, excess caloric intake, decreased exercise, genetics, and the built environment are active areas of etiologic research. The obesogen hypothesis, which postulates that prenatal and perinatal chemical exposure can contribute to risk of childhood and adolescent obesity, remains relatively underexamined. This review surveys numerous classes of chemicals for which this hypothesis has been explored. We focus on human data where they exist and also discuss the findings of rodent and cell culture studies. Organochlorine chemicals as well as several classes of chemicals that are peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor agonists are identified as possible risk factors for obesity. Recommendations for future epidemiologic and experimental research on the chemical origins of obesity are also given. Mt Sinai J Med 78:22–48, 2011. © 2011 Mount Sinai School of Medicine