For the new study, Osuch and colleagues measured each woman's height, weight and body mass index. They conducted interviews by telephone and in person. And they looked back at blood tests taken form the mothers as close to pregnancy as possible. The results, published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, showed no link between PCBs and weight. But women who had been exposed to more than 3 micrograms per liter of DDE while in the womb were now 20 pounds heavier than women who had been exposed to less than 1.5 mcg/L. Women in the middle group were 13 pounds heavier than women with the least amount of exposure. "A high proportion of people have those levels," said John Vena, an epidemiologist at the University of Georgia in Athens. "It's quite provocative." DDT was banned in the U.S. in 1973, but DDE remains in the environment for a long time, and the chemical is present, in varying levels, in just about everybody's blood, said Vena, whose own work has linked dioxins with diabetes. "It's very persistent and ubiquitous," Vena told Discovery News. "It may help explain why the obesity epidemic is so persistent across the entire population." Michigan, in particular, has one of the highest rates of obesity in the nation, Osuch said. It's too soon to conclude that prenatal DDE exposure caused the weight gain in these women, she added. But it's plausible: DDE is a known endocrine disruptor that interferes with the activity of estrogen. And women with low levels of estrogen often gain weight. Current guidelines recommend eating no more than two servings of fish a week -- and sometimes less -- from certain lakes and rivers. Tuna and salmon are fatty fish that can contain lots of DDE, Osuch said. And pregnant women, the new work suggests, should be particularly cautious. Related Links: |
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