Abstract
BackgroundWe previously reported that perinatal dioxin exposure increased autistic traits in children living in dioxin-contaminated areas of Vietnam. In the present study, we investigated the impact of dioxin exposure on children’s eating behavior, which is often altered in those with developmental disorders.MethodsA total of 185 mother-and-child pairs previously enrolled in a birth cohort in dioxin-contaminated areas participated in this survey, conducted when the children reached 3 years of age. Perinatal dioxin exposure levels in the children were estimated using dioxin levels in maternal breast milk after birth. Mothers were interviewed using the Children’s Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ). A multiple linear regression model was used to analyze the association between dioxin exposure and CEBQ scores, after controlling for covariates such as location, parity, maternal age, maternal education, maternal body mass index, family income, children’s gestational age at delivery, and children’s age at the time of the survey. A general linear model was used to analyze the effects of sex and dioxin exposure on CEBQ scores.ResultsThere was no significant association between most dioxin congeners or toxic equivalencies of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins/furans (TEQ-PCDDs/Fs) and CEBQ scores in boys, although significant associations between some eating behavior sub-scores and 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9-octachlorodibenzofuran were observed. In girls, there was a significant inverse association between levels of TEQ-PCDFs and enjoyment of food scores and between levels of TEQ-PCDFs and TEQ-PCDDs/Fs and desire to drink scores. Two pentachlorodibenzofuran congeners and 1,2,3,6,7,8-hexachlorodibenzofuran were associated with a decreased enjoyment of food score, and seven PCDF congeners were associated with a decreased desire to drink score. The adjusted mean enjoyment of food score was significantly lower in children of both sexes exposed to high levels of TEQ-PCDFs. There was, however, a significant interaction between sex and TEQ-PCDF exposure in their effect on desire to drink scores, especially in girls.ConclusionsPerinatal exposure to dioxin can influence eating behavior in children and particularly in girls. A longer follow-up study would be required to assess whether emotional development that affects eating styles and behaviors is related to dioxin exposure.
Highlights
IntroductionWhen our cohort reached 3 years of age, we performed a health impact survey to determine whether there was an association between perinatal dioxin exposure and autistic traits measured using the Autism Spectrum Rating Scales (ASRS), and found that perinatal TCDD exposure increased social emotional difficulties in these children [9]
We previously reported that perinatal dioxin exposure increased autistic traits in children living in dioxin-contaminated areas of Vietnam
We investigated the longitudinal effects of perinatal dioxin exposure on growth and neurodevelopment in the children during the first 3 years of life, and reported that increased dioxin exposure was associated with sex-specific effects on growth and neurodevelopment
Summary
When our cohort reached 3 years of age, we performed a health impact survey to determine whether there was an association between perinatal dioxin exposure and autistic traits measured using the Autism Spectrum Rating Scales (ASRS), and found that perinatal TCDD exposure increased social emotional difficulties in these children [9]. We found that exposure decreased various body measurements in boys, increased head and abdominal circumferences in girls, and decreased neurodevelopmental motor and expressive language scores in boys [10]. These findings highlight the need to investigate sex-specific effects of perinatal dioxin exposure on children’s eating behavior, which may lead to differences in size, in children with poor neurodevelopment. In clinical studies, eating behavior has been linked to problems in social behavior in children with neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder [11, 12], which are more prevalent in boys
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