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The relationship between emerging contaminants and gestational diabetes mellitus: a review
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Researchers reviewed evidence linking exposure to emerging contaminants — including microplastics, PFAS, and phthalates — to gestational diabetes mellitus, finding that endocrine-disrupting chemicals may impair insulin sensitivity and glucose regulation during pregnancy through multiple hormonal pathways.
Emerging contaminants (ECs) have garnered growing attention as potential contributors to adverse metabolic outcomes during pregnancy, particularly gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Despite increasing recognition of their endocrine-disrupting capabilities, the precise relationship between EC exposure and glucose dysregulation in the gestational context remains inadequately characterized. The scarcity of longitudinal human studies, along with limited mechanistic elucidation, highlights a critical gap in understanding how these ubiquitous environmental pollutants may perturb maternal metabolic homeostasis. This review consolidates current epidemiological evidence linking key classes of ECs, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), phthalates (PAEs), bisphenols, organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), parabens, and alkylphenols, with GDM risk and impaired glycemic control. Parallel examination of in vivo and in vitro studies reveals plausible biological mechanisms, including oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammatory signaling, and insulin resistance (IR), through which these compounds may mediate their effects. By integrating data across human and experimental research domains, this review underscores the urgent need for high-resolution exposure assessments, mixture toxicity frameworks, and mechanistic validation. Such insight is essential for advancing etiological understanding, informing regulatory action, and guiding preventive strategies to mitigate the impact of environmental exposures on maternal-fetal metabolic health.
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Emerging Contaminants: An Emerging Risk Factor for Diabetes Mellitus
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This review examines how emerging environmental contaminants, including microplastics and nanoplastics, may contribute to the development and progression of diabetes. These contaminants can disrupt glucose metabolism through oxidative stress, inflammation, and interference with hormone signaling. The findings suggest that chronic exposure to microplastics and other pollutants in food and water could be an overlooked risk factor for the growing global diabetes epidemic.
Endocrine disruptor load in pregnancy and the thyroid–glucose axis: A mixture-aware systematic review and meta-analysis with mechanistic integration and a conceptual framework for the Pregnancy Disruptor Exposure Score
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This review of 39 studies found that pregnant women exposed to common chemicals like plastics-related compounds (phthalates, bisphenols), PFAS ("forever chemicals"), and metals tend to show disrupted thyroid function and blood sugar control together—not just one or the other—and the effects looked stronger when researchers studied these chemicals as real-world mixtures rather than one at a time. Since thyroid and blood sugar regulation are both critical for a healthy pregnancy and baby's development, this suggests everyday chemical exposures may compound each other's effects, though evidence on newer concerns like microplastics is
Maternal microplastic exposure during pregnancy and risk of gestational diabetes mellitus associated with gut dysbiosis
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Researchers reviewed evidence linking microplastic exposure during pregnancy to gestational diabetes, with additives in microplastics acting as endocrine disruptors that interfere with insulin signaling and disrupt the gut microbiome. The findings suggest that microplastic ingestion may contribute to blood sugar dysregulation in pregnant women, with implications for both mother and fetal health.
Understanding the implications of microplastics on maternal health during pregnancy, gut dysbiosis, and gestational diabetes mellitus
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This review examines how microplastic exposure during pregnancy may contribute to gut dysbiosis, inflammation, and metabolic complications including gestational diabetes. Researchers describe how micro- and nanoplastics can cross epithelial barriers, act as endocrine disruptors, and alter the gut-brain axis through neuroinflammatory effects. The study highlights the potential for microplastics to compound health risks during pregnancy through multiple biological pathways.
A review of environmental metabolism disrupting chemicals and effect biomarkers associating disease risks: Where exposomics meets metabolomics
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This review examines how environmental chemicals, including contaminants associated with plastics, can disrupt human metabolism and contribute to conditions like obesity and diabetes. Researchers mapped the connections between chemical exposure and changes in metabolic biomarkers that signal disease risk. The study highlights the emerging field of metabolism-disrupting chemicals and the importance of understanding how everyday environmental exposures influence long-term metabolic health.
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