Antioxidant therapy against persistent organic pollutants and associated diseases

Environmental pollutants are recognized as modulators of metabolic disorders or noncommunicable diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity. Nutritional interventions have emerged as means to prevent the development of metabolic diseases and to modulate cellular mechanisms responsible for pro- and antioxidant responses, inflammatory signaling cascades, and environmental toxicant clearance. We review the role of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in disease development along with the underlying molecular mechanisms controlling the development of oxidative stress-sensitive and/or inflammatory diseases ranging from metabolic syndrome-related disorders to cancer. The use of antioxidant therapies to mitigate the development of environmental pollutant-induced diseases is discussed as the basis of a potent public health intervention strategy. While nutritional interventions have long been seen as vital components for decreasing complications associated with metabolic diseases, they are emerging as realistic, cost-effective means to decrease adverse effects of environmental POPs on health outcome. This chapter also reviews common mechanisms of toxicity of emerging organic contaminants with a focus on model toxicants such as POPs and how antioxidant therapies may be used as sensible means of modulating POP-induced oxidative stress and chronic inflammation that lead to disease risks. Diets rich in antioxidants may contribute to cellular protection against POP-induced inflammatory reaction by upregulating antioxidant cellular defenses, increasing excretion rates of POPs, and/or downregulating pro-inflammatory signaling cascades.