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Sep 21, 2011

Pesticide Exposure and Diabetes

CJ Everett and EM Matheson, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA
& 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Introduction

Most pesticides can be classified as organochlorine pesticides,
organophosphate pesticides, herbicides, pyrethroids
pesticides, and carbamate insecticides. Many of the pesticides
of interest are no longer used in developed countries,
but they or their metabolites have persisted in the
environment for many years. The link between pesticide
use and type 2 diabetes mellitus has been difficult to
establish. The research methods that have been used in
this endeavor include animal studies, cross-sectional studies
in humans, and a very limited number of longitudinal
studies in humans. Type 2 diabetes is the result of problems
in the production or use of insulin. Insulin is used to
move glucose (blood sugar) into cells, for use as an energy
source. When glucose cannot get into cells, too much of it
remains in the blood causing diabetes. Insulin resistance
results when insulin produced by the pancreas cannot
get inside cells. More and more insulin is produced in
response to this situation. Persons with insulin resistance
are more likely to develop diabetes.
Common risk factors for type 2 diabetes include
obesity, sedentary lifestyle, poor diet, family history of
diabetes, race/ethnicity (in the United States, African
Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans; in the
United Kingdom, South Asians), age, impaired fasting
glucose, high blood pressure, low high-density lipoprotein
(HDL) cholesterol, high triglycerides, and history of
gestational diabetes. Separating the effect of pesticides
from the effects of the common risk factors is an important
task. In fact, pesticide or metabolite concentrations in
blood have been shown to be associated with some of the
common risk factors, raising the question as to which
might cause diabetes. Another difficulty is that pesticides
migrate with dioxins/furans, polychlorinated biphenyls,
and other fat-soluble compounds, and it is difficult to
determine which one(s) of the lipophilic compounds is
really responsible for the association.

http://www.charlesjeverett.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Pesticide-Exposure-and-Diabetes.pdf