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# Pollutants in fish linked to high risk of diabetes
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/300820090415_pollutants_in_fish_linked_to_high_risk_of_diabetes/
- Published: 2009-08-30T16:14:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T16:02:16.000Z
- Description: Great Lakes boat captains who ate more fish carried more DDE in their blood and were more likely to develop diabetes, according to a study in Environmental Health Perspectives. DDE comes from DDT, banned in the US 37 years ago but still persistent in the region.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Environment, Health News, #vivvo-import

David Liu -- daidl (at) foodconsumer.org

Eating too much of fish from the Great Lakes region may increase risk of developing diabetes because the fish is contaminated with a chemical known as DDE (dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene), according to a new study. 

Great Lakes boat captains who ate more fish had more DDE in their blood and were more likely to develop diabetes, the study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives in July found. 

DDE is a metabolite in fish that ingest the prevalent pesticide DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), which was banned in the United States 37 years and is still persistent today in the Great Lakes region. 

An early study of 80,000 people found a link between pollutants and risk of diabetes but did not reveal which chemical is responsible. The current study found DDE is the chemical that may raise the risk of diabetes.