POPS

We’ve all heard how the incidence of Type II Diabetes is reaching epidemic proportions. Poor dietary habits and lack of exercise lead to this medical condition, but according to the 7Gen blog, new research shows that environmental chemicals maybe contributing to the problem:

“At issue are Persistent Organic Pollutants, or POPS, which are carbon-based chemicals (often containing chlorine) that resist biodegradation and build up in the environment and inside people, too. It’s a complicated medical detective tale, but here’s the Cliff Notes version: Our bodies manufacture an enzyme called GGT that scientists have learned is a strong indicator of diabetes. The higher your GGT levels, the more likely you are to be diabetic. Researchers have also discovered that GGT plays a big role in clearing POPs out of our cells. Putting two and two together, they wondered: Is GGT simply a marker for the true cause of this epidemic and are POPs the real culprit where diabetes is concerned?

The preliminary answer is yes. Because when this theory was explored, scientists found that people with the highest levels of POPs were found to have a rate of diabetes 38 times that of those with the lowest levels. And weight had nothing to do with it. Skinny people with high levels of POPs were likely to be diabetic. Obese people with low levels of POPs were not.”