Environmental Obesogens and Human Health

Abstract

Obesity is an alarming public health concern that contributes to a substantially increased risk of multiple chronic disorders, including diabetes. As per WHO data, in 2016, almost 39% adult population of the world is overweight, 13% of them were obese. There is prominent evidence on the involvement of environmental endocrine-disrupting chemicals, termed obesogens, in the prevalence of this growing worldwide pandemic, obesity. The exaggerated effect of obesogens on endocrine disruption, lipid metabolism and homeostasis, adipocyte functioning, impaired thermogenesis, inflammation, epigenetics, and overall human health will be covered in this chapter. This chapter will discuss the environmental obesogen hypothesis, the epidemiological and experimental evidence of obesogens, its chemical characteristics, and possible mechanism of actions. It will also focus on some recent indications of obesogens and their correlation in COVID-19 disease pathogenesis. This chapter will try to conclude with strategies for identifying the underlying mechanisms of obesogens within model systems and the human body, including future directions.