Editorial: Obesogens in the XXI century: Emerging health challenges

Abstract

The global prevalence of overweight and obesity has risen dramatically in recent decades. Obesity is a major public health problem, recognized by the World Health Organization as one of the most important public health challenges of the 21st century (1). Therefore, preventing obesity is a public health priority for adults, children, and adolescents. This is especially important because overweight and obese children are likely to remain obese into adulthood and are more likely to develop non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease at a younger age. Several factors are thought to be involved in the obesity pandemic, but in recent years the focus has been on exposure to specific environmental pollutants, the obesogens. The obesogen hypothesis was postulated in 2006 by Grün and Blumberg (2). The authors found that tributyltin could induce adipogenesis in vitro and in vivo. This “simple” finding was a huge breakthrough in Endocrinology and Metabolism. In these almost two decades, a significant body of evidence was gathered, and currently, obesogens have been considered key actors in the obesity epidemic.