Pesticides, including organophosphate (OP), organochlorine (OC), and carbamate (CB) compounds, are widely
used in agricultural and indoor purposes. OP and CB act as acetyl cholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors that affect
lots of organs such as peripheral and central nervous systems, muscles, liver, pancreas, and brain, whereas OC
are neurotoxic involved in alteration of ion channels. There are several reports about metabolic disorders, hyperglycemia,
and also oxidative stress in acute and chronic exposures to pesticides that are linked with diabetes and
other metabolic disorders. In this respect, there are several in vitro and in vivo but few clinical studies about
mechanism underlying these effects. Bibliographic databases were searched for the years 19632010 and
resulted in 1652 articles. After elimination of duplicates or irrelevant papers, 204 papers were included and
reviewed. Results indicated that OP and CB impair the enzymatic pathways involved in metabolism of carbohydrates,
fats and protein within cytoplasm, mitochondria, and proxisomes. It is believed that OP and CB show this
effect through inhibition of AChE or affecting target organs directly. OC mostly affect lipid metabolism in the
adipose tissues and change glucose pathway in other cells. As a shared mechanism, all OP, CB and OC induce
cellular oxidative stress via affecting mitochondrial function and therefore disrupt neuronal and hormonal status
of the body. Establishing proper epidemiological studies to explore exact relationships between exposure levels
to these pesticides and rate of resulted metabolic disorders in human will be helpful.