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.

The importance of upper gastrointestinal endoscopy in morbidly obese patients

“…Excessive calorie intake and sedentary life style are major risk factors for obesity and DM but these do not explain the worldwide obesity epidemiology. According to a recent hypothesis, the leading factors for obesity are environmental chemicals, stress, immunologic changes, micronutrient deficit and intestinal microbiota (20). In our series, co-morbidity was also common among obese patients and a significant relationship was demonstrated between number of co-morbidities and endoscopic abnormalities.…”

Low Oxygen Consumption is Related to a Hypomethylation and an Increased Secretion of IL-6 in Obese Subjects with Sleep Apnea-Hypopnea Syndrome

“…On the other hand, it is known that certain environmental factors influence the epigenetic programming in cells through chemical nucleotide modification [10,11]. Different non-nutritional risk factors such as oxygen availability and oxidative stress, together with obesity are potentially involved in these epigenetic modifications [12,13].…”

Oxidative Stress in Algerian Adults Obesity

“…High ROS production and the decrease in antioxidant capacity observed in obesity can then damage various cellular structures and lead to various abnormalities including endothelial dysfunction favoring atherosclerotic disease [3] insulin resistance [4,18], metabolic syndrome [4,[22][23][24], type 2 diabetes, and cancer. Recently, it has been suggested that increased oxidative stress and inflammation in obesity also enhance aging processes [24].…”

“…Obesity is now the sixth most important risk factor contributing to the overall burden of disease worldwide [2]. Substantial literature shows that overweight and obesity are major causes of co-morbidities, metabolic syndrome, including type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, various cancers, and other health problems, which can lead to further morbidity and mortality [3,4].…”