PCBs increase risk of obesity

Swedish scientists have shown that the PCBs are associated with the amount of abdominal fat in a new study published in Obesity.

They analysed data from the PIVUS study which was established in 2001 “with the primary aim to investigate the predictive power of different measurements of endothelial function and arterial compliance in a random sample of 1000 subjects aged 70 living in the community of Uppsala.” The levels of 23 persistent organic pollutants (POPS), including organo-chlorine pesticides, chlordanes and PCBs, were measured by high resolution GC-high resolution MS and the visceral adipose tissue and subcutaneous adipose tissue were estimated by MRI.

The team found that high levels of the hepta-chlorinated PCB189 were related to a high proportion of fat in the abdomen. This PCB has been previously linked to the development of diabetes, so it might play a role in where abdominal adipose tissue is deposited.