The term metabolic syndrome describes a cluster of risk factors that increase the chances of developing heart disease, stroke and diabetes. The study is the first to find changing metabolic markers in children were associated with exposure to perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs), common industrial chemicals used as stain and water repellants in carpets, furniture and textiles.

"Our results suggest that these chemicals, which linger in the environment for years, could represent an important public health hazard that merits further study," said one of the study's authors, Clara Amalie Gade Timmermann, MSC, of the University of Southern Denmark. "Overweight children who were exposed to higher levels of PFCs tended to have higher concentrations of insulin and triglycerides in their blood, and these metabolic changes could signal the beginnings of the metabolic syndrome."