Czech J. Food Sci., 2023, 41(6):393-405 | DOI: 10.17221/80/2023-CJFS

Endocrine disruptors in foods: Overlooked factors contributing to the prevalence of obesityReview

Wenli Wu¹, Yang Yang², Bee KangTan³, Shaoling Lin¹, Yaping Chen^4*, Jiamiao Hu ORCID...^1,3*

¹ College of Food Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China

² PolyU Shenzhen Research Institute, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Shenzhen, China

³ College of Life Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom

⁴ Fujian Saifu Food Inspection Institute, Fuzhou, China

Endocrine disruptors, also known as endocrine-disrupting chemicals, could mimic or interfere with the body's hormones. Indeed, naturally occurring endocrine disruptors have been widely identified in daily foods. Moreover, industrialisation has resulted in increasing synthetic endocrine disruptors being produced and used as food additives or in food package materials, which makes exposure to endocrine disruptors become more common. Although the safety of synthetic chemicals has been extensively evaluated before entering into the food industry, increasing evidence has also highlighted that long-lasting exposure might influence long-term metabolic outcomes and be associated with the prevalence of obesity. Therefore, this review summarised the sources, detection methods, obesogenic effects and possible mechanisms of endocrine disruptors commonly found in foods, as well as discussed possible underlying mechanisms by which endocrine disruptors contribute to the increased risk of obesity. In conclusion, the review may provide useful information for understanding the association between endocrine disruptors and obesity, which could provide a new angle of view for preventing obesity prevalence.

Keywords: endocrine disruptor; food additive; obesity; metabolic disorder

Received: May 26, 2023; Revised: October 11, 2023; Accepted: October 25, 2023; Prepublished online: November 20, 2023; Published: December 28, 2023  Show citation