Prenatal exposure to persistent organic pollutants and rapid weight gain and overweight in infancy

Abstract

Objective: To examine the effects of prenatal exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) on rapid growth in the first 6 months of life and overweight at 14 months of age. Design and Methods: In a Spanish birth cohort study, the POPs dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs-congeners 153, 138, 180) were measured in maternal serum collected in the first trimester of pregnancy during [2003][2004][2005][2006][2007][2008]. Rapid growth was defined as a z-score weight gain >0.67 SD between 6 months of age and birth. Overweight at 14 months was defined as a BMI z-score 85th percentile. Generalized linear models examined the association between POPs and rapid growth (N 5 1285) and overweight (N 5 1198). Results: The analysis population included 24% rapid growers and 30% overweight infants. DDE and HCB were positively associated with rapid growth and with overweight. There was some indication that infant sex and exclusive breastfeeding duration may modify the effects of DDE, and that maternal prepregnancy BMI status may influence the effects of HCB. PCBs were not related to postnatal growth. Conclusion: Prenatal exposure to DDE and HCB may be associated with early postnatal growth. Further research is needed to evaluate the persistence of these associations at older ages.

Perinatal exposure to chlordecone and infant growth

“…A similar result has been reported for children aged one to three years prenatally exposed to PCB (Verhulst et al, 2009). Most other studies have attributed an increased BMI of the child to an increase in weight or weight gain (Mendez et al, 2011;Valvi et al, 2014), without considering height. Studies considering height and weight growth separately have reported mixed results concerning their association with prenatal exposure to DDE (Garced et al, 2012;Gladen et al, 2000;Ribas-Fitó et al, 2006) or with prenatal exposure to PCBs (Gladen et al, 2000;Hertz-Picciotto et al, 2005;Patandin et al, 1998;Ribas-Fitó et al, 2006).…”

“…Higher prenatal exposure was associated with a higher BMI at three months in boys and with a higher BMI and a lower height and height growth velocity at 8 and 18 months in girls. Similar studies investigating other organochlorine chemicals with hormonal activities have reported an increase in BMI or risk of overweight associated with prenatal DDT/ DDE exposure at different ages (from 14 months to 6.5 years) (Mendez et al, 2011;Valvi et al, 2014Valvi et al, , 2012Verhulst et al, 2009). However, one study reported a decrease in BMI (de Cock et al, 2014a(de Cock et al, , 2014b and several reported an absence of association (Cupul-Uicab et al, 2013;Garced et al, 2012;Gladen et al, 2004;Warner et al, 2013).…”

“…Factors previously identified from the literature as predictors of postnatal growth (Dubois and Girard, 2006;Regnault et al, 2010;Valvi et al, 2014) or/and chlordecone exposure (Guldner et al, 2010;Seurin et al, 2012) were a priori considered as potential confounders : duration of gestation in weeks (3 categories: 37, 38-39, 40-41), maternal place of birth (French West Indies, other Caribbean islands, Europe), maternal age (continuous), maternal pre-pregnancy height and weight (continuous), maternal weight gain during pregnancy (compliance with pre-pregnancy BMIspecific recommendations, as defined by the US Institute of Medicine (Siega-Riz and Gray, 2013)), parity (0, 1, Z 2), years of education (o 5, 5-12, 4 12), marital status (single, married or in a couple, living with own family), smoking and alcohol consumption during pregnancy (yes/no), duration of breastfeeding (no, o 3 months, 3-7 months, 7-18 months). Missing values for covariates (marital status (N ¼13), alcohol intake (N ¼4), weight gain during pregnancy (N ¼8)) were imputed to the modal category.…”

Environmental pollutants parathion, paraquat and bisphenol A show distinct effects towards nuclear receptors-mediated induction of xenobiotics-metabolizing cytochromes P450 in human hepatocytes

“…pesticides, flame retardants, plasticizers or dyes may have adverse effects on human health, as revealed by numerous epidemiological studies (Gascon et al, 2014(Gascon et al, , 2015Valvi et al, 2014;Shim et al, 2009;Dahlgren et al, 2003). There is a great number of data in the literature describing induction of xenobiotics-metabolizing human cytochromes P450 by food contaminants and environmental pollutants (Novotna and Dvorak, 2014;Vrzal et al, 2013;Kamenickova et al, 2013;Ayed-Boussema et al, 2012;Lee et al, 2006;Nekvindova et al, 2006).…”

Developmental Exposure to Environmental Toxicants

“…103 Exposure increases weight gain in animals, 104 and causes rapid growth in the first year of life in humans. 105 The mechanism by which POPs act as obesogens is unknown, but may be mediated through steroid receptors. 104 POPs are known neurotoxins.…”