Abstract
The overwhelming increase in the global incidence of obesity and its associated complications such as insulin resistance, atherosclerosis, pulmonary disease, and degenerative disorders including dementia constitutes a serious public health problem. The Inhibitor of DNA Binding/Differentiation-3 (ID3), a member of the ID family of transcriptional regulators, has been shown to play a role in adipogenesis and therefore ID3 may influence obesity and metabolic health in response to environmental factors. This review will highlight the current understanding of how ID3 may contribute to complex chronic diseases via metabolic perturbations. Based on the increasing number of reports that suggest chronic exposure to and accumulation of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) within the human body are associated with metabolic disorders, we will also consider the impact of these chemicals on ID3. Improved understanding of the ID3 pathways by which exposure to EDCs can potentiate complex chronic diseases in populations with metabolic disorders (obesity, metabolic syndrome, and glucose intolerance) will likely provide useful knowledge in the prevention and control of complex chronic diseases associated with exposure to environmental pollutants.