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Lifelong Exposure to Food Contaminants May Prompt Metabolic Diseases

           

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The French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM; France) warns that ingested foods may contain low levels of thousands of chemicals; and that these polluted foods, individually and in-combination, may wreak havoc with the body’s metabolic functioning. Employing a lab animal model, Brigitte Le Magueresse-Battistoni and colleagues fed two groups of mice a high-fat, high-sucrose enriched diet. One group then received a cocktail of pollutants added to its diet at a very low dosage. These pollutants were given to the mice throughout—from pre-conception to adulthood. Although the researchers did not observe toxicity or excess of weight gain in the group having received the cocktail of pollutants, they did observe a deterioration of glucose tolerance in females, suggesting a defect in insulin signaling. Study results suggest that the mixture of pollutants reduced estrogen activity in the liver through enhancing an enzyme in charge of estrogen elimination. In contrast to females, glucose tolerance was not impacted in males exposed to the cocktail of pollutants. However, males did show some changes in liver related to cholesterol synthesis and transport. This study authors warn that: “Because of the very low doses of pollutants used in the mixture, these findings may have strong implications in terms of understanding the potential role of environmental contaminants in food in the development of metabolic diseases."