Although obesity is strongly linked to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, a subset of obese individuals, termed "metabolically healthy but obese," appears relatively protected from the development of such cardiometabolic complications. IRCM researchers are studying the factors that seem to protect obese individuals who remain metabolically healthy, in an attempt to find therapeutic avenues to prevent complications for others who are at risk.

"Recently, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) have been found to accelerate the development of prediabetes and obesity in mice, thereby mimicking the unfavourable cardiometabolic profile characteristic of certain obese individuals," says Rémi Rabasa-Lhoret, MD, PhD, endocrinologist and Director of the Metabolic Diseases research unit at the IRCM. "As a result, the aim of our study was to test whether metabolically healthy but obese individuals have lower circulating levels of POPs than obese individuals with cardiometabolic complications."