Relationship between environmental estrogen exposure and diabetes mellitus: a review

The chronic metabolic diseases, such as diabetes and obesity, have become a focus of public health researches in recent years.The exposure to environmental estrogen becomes another risk factor for diabetes in addition to genes, lifestyle and other social factors.Various environmental estrogens have different chemical structures, so their impact mechanisms on diabetes are different.Currently, there have been many studies on bisphenol (BPA)and dioxins interfering with the activity of insulin secretion and the strong effect of nonylphenol (NP) on insulin is also an important factor observed.This article reviews potential impact mechanisms of exposure to several major environmental estrogens on the occurrence of diabetes and the problems need to be explored.