Can PFAS from nonstick cookware affect insulin function and increase type 2 diabetes risk?

What's actually in it

PFAS are in nonstick cookware, food packaging, stain-resistant products, and drinking water in contaminated areas. They build up in blood and organs over years. The pancreas, which produces insulin, is a concentration site for some PFAS compounds.

Beta cells in the pancreas produce insulin in response to blood sugar. If PFAS disrupt beta cell function, insulin release becomes impaired. Combined with PFAS effects on insulin receptor sensitivity, the result is elevated blood sugar and increased diabetes risk.

What the research says

A 2026 study on serum PFAS concentrations and beta cell function found that adults with higher PFAS blood levels had measurably worse beta cell function and higher insulin resistance markers. The associations were found across multiple PFAS compounds and were dose-related.

This is one of several mechanisms by which PFAS contribute to metabolic disease. PFAS also disrupt thyroid hormones that regulate glucose metabolism and promote fatty liver disease through lipid metabolism interference. The metabolic effects of PFAS are multi-pathway.

Replacing nonstick cookware with cast iron, stainless steel, or ceramic, and filtering drinking water, are the most direct ways to reduce ongoing PFAS exposure and slow body burden accumulation.