Study: Lead exposure may lead to obesity

HOUSTON, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- A U.S. scientist has discovered a side effect of prenatal lead exposure might be adult-onset obesity.

It's been long established that exposure to low levels of lead can result in learning disabilities, hearing loss, language impairments and vision loss. Now Donald Fox, a University of Houston professor of biology, biochemistry and vision sciences, has discovered a link between lead exposure and obesity while studying the effects of lead on the retina in mice.

Fox found the more subtle side effect was due to exposure to lead while in the womb, unlike reports of children becoming sick from ingesting lead-based toys.

Fox and Assistant Professor Leigh Leasure discovered the link during an 18-month study that involved exposing pregnant mice to varying levels of lead in their drinking water to observe the effects on the offspring.

By adding obesity to the already lengthy list of lead exposure side effects, Fox said he hopes the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will lower the acceptable lead exposure rate for pregnant women and children.

The study is to appear in the March issue of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.