Non-home-prepared meal and fast food intake as exposure sources to non-persistent pollutant among the US population, NHANES 2013-2014

Abstract

Background: Non-persistent pollutants (NPPs) have been widely used in commercial products, and proven to have adverse health impacts. Despite the various exposure pathways, dietary intake has received more attention due to potential contamination from food processing and packaging. Non-home-prepared meals and fast food are likely more processed and packaged, which may be important exposure pathways for some NPPs. Methods: To assess the associations of urinary NPPs with non-home-prepared meals, and with fast food intake, the data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES 2013-2014) were used (N=2,666 for organophosphate ester; N=2,777 for the other chemicals). Dietary information was collected through the questionnaire during household interview and 24-hr dietary recall interview; participants at or below the median were assigned to low exposure group, whereas those above were assigned to high exposure group. Multivariate linear regression accounting for the complex sampling design was applied, and all models were adjusted for sex, age, race/ethnicity, BMI, income, and urinary creatinine. Results: Based on the significance of trend, dose-response relationships were found in some phthalates metabolites, but not for bisphenols, parabens or organophosphate esters with non-home-prepared meals, and with fast food intake. The participants with low and high frequency of non-home-prepared meals have 15.3% (CI 3.7-28.1%) and 66.8% (CI 39.9-98.8%) increase in urinary Σdiisononyl phthalate metabolites (ΣDiNPm) levels compared to non-exposed group. Those with low and high fast food intake with in the past 24 hours have 31.1% (CI 9.8-56.4%) and 70.4% (CI 51.2-92.0%) increase in urinary ΣDiNPm levels compared to no intake group. Similar findings were also found for urinary Σdi(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate metabolites (ΣDEHPm), mono(carboxyisononyl) phthalate (MCiNP), and mono-(3-carboxypropyl) phthalate (MCPP). Conclusion: Human phthalate exposure may be attributed to non-home-prepared and fast food consumption, whereas paraben, bisphenol, and organophosphate ester exposures may have different exposure pathways among the US population.