Research

Hormonal

Adipose tissue acts as a double-edged sword regarding POPs: it protects organs by sequestering POPs when healthy, but releases them into circulation during uncontrolled lipolysis (common in obesity or weight loss), increasing toxicity to other organs.

If you are overweight, be aware that rapid weight loss can temporarily spike the levels of environmental toxins in your blood as they are released from fat stores. Focus on gradual weight loss through exercise and a diet rich in phytochemicals, which helps your body eliminate these toxins more effectively.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
As far as adipocyte function is physiologically healthy without uncontrolled lipolysis is concerned, greater adipose tissue can be more advantageous than less adipose tissue. The reason is that the storage of POPs in adipose tissue can reduce the amount of POPs reaching other organs... However, among obese persons, uncontrolled lipolysis is common and increased lipolysis accelerates the efflux of free fatty acids from adipose tissue to the circulation and ectopic fat accumulation.
Yu‐Mi Lee et al. · Frontiers in Endocrinology · 2018

Why this rating

Supported by human studies showing correlations between POP levels, obesity, and survival (obesity paradox), and experimental studies on lipolysis.

Source

Persistent Organic Pollutants and Type 2 Diabetes: A Critical Review of Review Articles

Yu‐Mi Lee et al. · Frontiers in Endocrinology · 2018

DOI 10.3389/fendo.2018.00712

narrative_reviewCited 94×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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