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Certain endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC) are suspected contributors to the obesity epidemic, since the increase in the production of environmental contaminants parallels the rise in obesity prevalence. The current study examined in vitro, in vivo and epidemiological studies regarding obesogenic effects of phthalates and bisphenol A (BPA), and analyzed data on German children in order to investigate associations between phthalate, BPA, PCB and DDE exposure and overweight. DEHP metabolites were inversely associated with overweight in children aged 3 - 14 years in bivariate analysis, but there were no significant associations between phthalates and BPA and overweight in multivariate logistic regression. The strongly significant inverse association between long-lived substances such as PCBs and DDE and overweight indicates variable detectability of these substances between lean and overweight individuals, as well as prolonged elimination and exposure.

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Sheila Elz, M. Sc. Toxicology: Education - Toxicology at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin (M. Sc.) and Nutritional Science at the University of Potsdam (B. Sc.). She is currently a project leader at the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) in the department Pesticides Safety, in the unit Steering and Overall Assessment Plant Protection.

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