Industry Pollutants affect Obesity in Akwesasne boys and girls

we have spoken in class about the adverse effects that industry pollutants have on the environment. Evidence done in a study of the Akwesasne Nation in New York show that pollutants may be to blame for increase in childhood obesity.

Industry factories were polluting the rivers from which the Akwesasne people fish with Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB's). Some of the corporations with factories in the area are General Motors, and Alcoa Inc.
PCB's are lipophilic, meaning they accumulate in fat tissue. They also bioaccumulate (are passed on through trophic levels) and are highly resistant to breakdown in the body.

Fish was a main part of the Akwesasne diet, but as a result of PCB accumulation in the rivers, an advisory was made to eliminate fishing in these areas and to discontinue consumption of fish from the area. The advisory may have come too late for many individuals who had already been exposed and contaminated by the PCB's. For those who were not, dramatic changes in the diet adversely affected their body weight.

Akwesasne people experience a very low socioeconomic status. Many of these people work in the factories for little pay. We learned in class that low SES individuals tend to purchase calorie-dense foods because they are inexpensive and filling. In Akwesasne Nation, the drastic change in diet was substituting high protein lean fish for calorie-dense and nutrient-deficient foods readily available in stores catering to low-income individuals.

The effects have been drastic.

Information on the effects of PBC's on obesity in Akwesasne nation can be found in the following link.
http://esc.syrres.com/sraupstateny/downloads/symposium%20presentations/david.ppt#18