Metabolism disrupting chemicals and metabolic disorders

- The recent epidemics of metabolic diseases cannot be attributed only to genetic background and changes in diet, exercise and aging.
- Metabolic diseases have their origins during development due to altered programming that increases susceptibility to disease later in life.
- Metabolism disruptors are endocrine disruptors that increase the susceptibility to metabolic diseases.
- Some metabolism disruptors may cause metabolic diseases per se while others act via increasing the sensitivity or set point for disease.
- The metabolic disruptor hypotheses provides a focus on preventing metabolic diseases.

The recent epidemics of metabolic diseases, obesity, type 2 diabetes(T2D), liver lipid disorders and metabolic syndrome have largely been attributed to genetic background and changes in diet, exercise and aging. However, there is now considerable evidence that other environmental factors may contribute to the rapid increase in the incidence of these metabolic diseases. This review will examine changes to the incidence of obesity, T2D and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the contribution of genetics to these disorders and describe the role of the endocrine system in these metabolic disorders. It will then specifically focus on the role of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in the etiology of obesity, T2D and NAFLD while finally integrating the information on EDCs on multiple metabolic disorders that could lead to metabolic syndrome. We will specifically examine evidence linking EDC exposures during critical periods of development with metabolic diseases that manifest later in life and across generations.