Long-Term Implications of Developmental Programming and Obesity

A review of the impact of xenobiotics from dietary sources on infant health: Early life exposures and the role of the microbiota

“…In 2002, Baillie-Hamilton proposed a link between rising obesity rates worldwide and environmental pollutants (Baillie-Hamilton, 2002). Since then, the "obesogens hypothesis" has been demonstrated in human, animal, and in vitro studies, linking environmental chemicals (e.g., dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene, hexachlorobenzene, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins, some insecticides, and herbicides) and multiple molecular targets (estrogen receptor, retinoid X receptor, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-g, and glucocorticoid receptors) involved in adipogenesis, lipid metabolism, or energy balance (Heindel, 2020).…”

“…These fast developmental processes are accompanied by the establishment of the human microbiome, which may modulate human development. The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease or Barker hypothesis established causality between adverse effects occurring in utero (e.g., environmental pollutants, toxic metal(loid)s) and the etiology of diseases in adulthood (Heindel, 2020;Heindel et al, 2015). Foetus, neonates, infants and children are especially sensitive to toxicants due to the relative immaturity in metabolizing enzymes and lower capacity to eliminate toxic compounds (toxicokinetics) or due to the high sensitivity of target organs (toxicodynamics) (Simon et al, 2019).…”