Risk assessment of exposure to phthalates in breastfeeding women using human biomonitoring

Abstract

In this study, we assessed the presence of 14 phthalate metabolites in the urine of 104 lactating mothers from Valencia (Spain) who took part in the human biomonitoring project BETTERMILK. Nine of the metabolites studied showed detection frequencies >80%, whereas the rest of the metabolites presented low detection frequencies (<5%). The concentrations ranged from <LoQ to 1291 ng/mL with monoethyl phthalate showing the highest concentration, with a geometric mean of 34.90 ng/mL. In general, the phthalate metabolite levels quantified in the present study were lower than the urinary levels found in previous studies that involved lactating mothers. The consumption of packaged juices and the frequency of deodorant usage were predictors of some phthalate metabolite levels in urine. In order to put the biomonitoring data in a risk assessment context, guide values for the different phthalates were used and the respective hazard quotients were calculated, which ranged from 0.0036 (benzylbutyl phthalate) to 0.49 (di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate) at the 95th percentile level. Consequently, no risk was appreciated in the studied population.