What’s on your dinner plate?

Industrialization has been one of the most important advances in human history, resulting in improved survival and quality of life for millions worldwide. However, a byproduct of our modern-day human activities has been the production of numerous potentially noxious chemicals. Nearly 150,000 are registered by the European Chemicals Agency, and more than 70,000 were produced in the USA in 2009. Some of these chemicals are very long lasting, and environmental pollutants are now found everywhere on earth – even in remote areas, such as the Arctic. No one is completely unaffected by hazardous chemicals and contaminants. In contrast to those of our ancestors, the 21st century human body comprises several non-natural chemical cocktails that interact continuously with our cells and organs. Recent research indicate that there may be a link between contaminants in food-stuff and the explosion in metabolic diseases, incl. type 2 diabetes, in the western world.

Dr. Jérôme Ruzzin and Prof. Anders Goksøyr (Environmental Toxicology group) recently wrote an article focusing on the links between chemicals and the risk for metabolic diseases. This article has been published in Diabetes Voice, a quarterly magazine of the International Diabetes Federation. To access the article (page 30), please go to the following link:

http://www.idf.org/sites/default/files/attachments/DV57-3-English.pdf