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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2018) | Viewed by 44801

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Dr. Anne Lise Brantsæter

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Guest Editor

Department of Environmental Exposure and Epidemiology, Division of Infection Control, Environment and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, 0403 Oslo, Norway
Interests: nutrient and toxicological exposures contributed from food, dietary exposure assessment, risk assessment of dietary exposure, dietary assessment methods, dietary exposure and health

Dr. Eleni Papadopoulou

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Guest Editor

Department of Environmental Exposure and Epidemiology, Division of Infection Control, Environment and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo 0403, Norway
Interests: nutritional and environmental epidemiology; emerging environmental contaminants; early life exposures; childhood obesity; diet in pregnancy; dietary assessment of contaminants; early origins of disease; birth cohorts

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health welcomes submissions for a Special Issue of the journal. This Special Issue will focus on Dietary Exposures.

Diet is the source of essential nutrients, but can also be a major source of exposure to environmental contaminants. The interplay between beneficial nutrients and unwanted chemicals is an issue in constant need for new knowledge from a public health perspective.

Dietary exposure assessment can be conducted by various methods that are mostly based in the combination of food consumption data with food contamination data. The market basket and total diet studies are such examples, also suggested by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for exposure assessment of large populations. In addition, duplicate diet studies, where participants are asked to collect duplicate portions of everything they drink and eat for a period and provide it for chemical analysis are also a method used to quantify the dietary intake of contaminants. There are few reports of comparison between different dietary assessment methods in the same population that can provide insight on the external validity of each method.

In addition, the identification of dietary determinants of measured biomarkers of environmental contaminants in human samples is also a widely used approach. As analytical methods for the determination of the internal dose of contaminants become cheaper, more sensitive and require less sample, environmental biomarker analysis becomes available for large populations. Given that dietary assessment is currently an established part of epidemiological studies, investigating human exposure to environmental contaminants by combining information about food consumption with biomarkers and health outcome has become a valuable contribution to Public Health.

Potential topics may include, but are not limited to:

Dietary exposure assessment of emerging environmental contaminants with largely unknown exposure pathways.
Associations between dietary exposures, diet quality and chronic disease risk factors.
Associations between dietary exposure, biomarkers of exposure, dietary quality and nutritional status.
Studies involving dietary exposure and health outcomes across the life-course from infancy to old age.
Comparisons between dietary assessment methods.
Food contamination information and dietary exposure assessment in contaminated sites or in populations with unknown exposure data (i.e. remote populations, infants, pregnant women).

Dr. Anne Lise Brantsæter
Dr. Eleni Papadopoulou
Guest Editors

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 832 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Comprehensive Review of Arsenic Exposure and Risk from Rice and a Risk Assessment among a Cohort of Adolescents in Kunming, China

by Noelle Liao, Edmund Seto, Brenda Eskenazi, May Wang, Yan Li and Jenna Hua

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(10), 2191; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15102191 - 08 Oct 2018

Cited by 31 | Viewed by 5167

Abstract

Inorganic arsenic (iAs) is carcinogenic and highly concentrated in rice. Dietary exposure to iAs is concerning among adolescents due to their developmental stage and iAs’s long-latency effects. This paper aimed to assess iAs exposure from rice and related lifetime cancer risks (LCR) among adolescents in Kunming, China. A comprehensive literature review of iAs levels in rice and LCR in humans was also conducted. Average daily consumption of rice (ADC) was estimated from 267 adolescents (15–18 years). Rice samples obtained from 6 markets were analyzed for iAs concentration (AC). Estimated daily intake (EDI) of iAs was calculated using ADC, AC, and average body weight (BW). Lifetime Cancer Risk (LCR) was calculated using EDI and U.S. EPA derived iAs oral slope factor. The AC was 0.058 mg/kg and the average BW and ADC were 67.5 kg and 410 g/day for males and 55.5 kg and 337 g/day for females. The EDI and LCR were 3.52 × 10⁻⁴ mg/kg-BW/day and 5.28 × 10⁻⁴ for both males and females, with LCR 5 times above the U.S. LCR upper limit of 1.0 × 10⁻⁴. While the AC was below the Chinese maximum contaminant level of 0.2 mg/kg, study results indicated that Kunming adolescents may be at increased risk for iAs-related cancers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dietary Exposures)

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14 pages, 1478 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Association between Dietary Mineral Intake and Chronic Kidney Disease: The Health Examinees (HEXA) Study

by Jeewoo Kim, Juyeon Lee, Kyoung-Nam Kim, Kook-Hwan Oh, Curie Ahn, Jongkoo Lee, Daehee Kang and Sue K. Park

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(6), 1070; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15061070 - 24 May 2018

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 6140

Abstract

Few studies have explored the association between mineral intake and chronic kidney disease (CKD). A cross-sectional analysis investigated the association between mineral intake (calcium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, iron, and zinc) and CKD using the Health Examinee (HEXA) cohort of the Korean Genome and Epidemiologic Study (KoGES). For 159,711 participants, mineral intake was assessed by a food frequency questionnaire. CKD was defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) of less than 60 mL/min/1.73 m². Dietary intake of each mineral was divided into quartiles and the quartile including recommended dietary allowance (RDA) or adequate intake (AI) of each mineral was used as a reference. We assessed the association between the quartile of mineral intakes and CKD using polytomous logistic regression models. The lowest quartiles of phosphorus (≤663.68 mg/day, odds ratio [OR] = 1.64, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.25–2.15), potassium (≤1567.53 mg/day, OR = 1.87, 95% CI: 1.27–2.75), iron (≤6.93 mg/day, OR = 1.53, 95% CI: 1.17–2.01), and zinc (≤5.86 mg/day, OR = 1.52, 95% CI: 1.02–2.26) were associated with higher odds for advanced CKD compared with the references. The present study suggests that an inadequate intake of some minerals may be associated with CKD occurrence in the general population. Due to the reverse causation issue in this cross-sectional study design, further longitudinal prospective studies are needed in order to prove the results. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dietary Exposures)

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13 pages, 671 KiB

Open AccessArticle

PCBs and PCDD/Fs in Bluefin Tuna: Occurrence and Dietary Intake

by Grazia Barone, Arianna Storelli, Rita Garofalo, Rosanna Mallamaci, Nicoletta C. Quaglia and Maria Maddalena Storelli

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(5), 911; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15050911 - 03 May 2018

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3786

Abstract

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polychlorinated dibenzo-furans (PCDD/Fs) were measured in Mediterranean bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) to verify the compliance with the EU regulations for food commercialization. The estimated intakes were also evaluated. The analyses were performed by gas chromatography-ion trap tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS-MS). The PCBs were dominant (1132.0 ng g⁻¹ l.w.), followed by PCDFs (23.2 pg g⁻¹ l.w.) and PCDDs (8.5 pg g⁻¹ l.w.). The pollutant levels (dl-PCBs: 0.7 pg TEQ/g w.w.; PCDD/Fs: 1.9 pg TEQ/g w.w.) and their sum expressed as TEQ values (2.6 pg TEQ/g w.w.) remained below the limits for human consumption proposed by the European Union. On the contrary, the sum of the six indicator non-dioxin-like PCBs (84.2 ng g⁻¹ w.w.) was slightly above the maximum level fixed by the in-force legislation. The estimated dietary intakes for PCDD/Fs plus dl-PCBs were below the toxicological reference values (TRVs) set by various international bodies, while non-cancer and cancer risk assessment revealed a safety concern. Additionally, the estimated intake of ndl-PCBs exceeded the maximum levels set by different European countries. These findings suggest caution in tuna consumption together with an active and frequent surveillance of the chemical quality of its flesh. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dietary Exposures)

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10 pages, 306 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Assessment of Dietary Exposure to Cadmium in Residents of Guangzhou, China

by Weiwei Zhang, Yungang Liu, Yufei Liu, Boheng Liang, Hongwei Zhou, Yingyue Li, Yuhua Zhang, Jie Huang, Chao Yu and Kuncai Chen

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(3), 556; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15030556 - 20 Mar 2018

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 4283

Abstract

Cadmium and its compounds are human carcinogens with severe organ toxicity, and their contamination of agricultural soil in China has been frequently reported; however, the dietary exposure to cadmium in residents and the relevant health risk have seldom been reported. In this study, the concentration of cadmium in various types of food collected from 2013 to 2015 were analyzed using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry, and the dietary exposure to cadmium assessed based on a dietary survey in 2976 Guangzhou residents. In total, 3074 out of 4039 food samples had cadmium levels above the limit of detection. The mean ± standard deviation (50th, 95th percentile) cadmium content in all samples was 159.0 ± 112.7 (8.6, 392.4) μg/kg, with levels ranging from 1.0 to 7830 μg/kg. Using the mean cadmium concentrations, the average monthly dietary exposure of Guangzhou residents to cadmium was 14.4 (μg/kg body weight (BW), accounting for 57.6% of the provisional tolerable monthly intake (PTMI). Rice, laver, vegetables, and live aquatic products were the main sources of cadmium intake, on average accounting for 89% of the total value. The dietary cadmium exposure in high consumers (95th percentile food consumption) was 41.0 μg/kg·BW/month, accounting for 163% of the PTMI. Additionally, dietary cadmium exposure at mean consumption but high cadmium food concentration (95th percentile) was 32.3 μg/kg·BW/month, corresponding to 129% of the PTMI. The level of dietary exposure to cadmium in most Guangzhou residents was within the safety limit, thus increased health risk from dietary cadmium exposure is low at present. However, continued efforts by local governments to monitor the levels of cadmium in the four main food categories contributing to exposure are necessary. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dietary Exposures)

945 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Estimated Dietary Intakes of Toxic Elements from Four Staple Foods in Najran City, Saudi Arabia

by Hatem Mohamed, Parvez I. Haris and Eid I. Brima

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14(12), 1575; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14121575 - 14 Dec 2017

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 5539

Abstract

Exposure of the inhabitants of Najran area in Saudi Arabia to the toxic elements As, Cd, Cr, and Pb through foods has not been previously investigated. Exposure to such elements is an important public health issue, so the study described here was performed with the aim of determining estimated dietary intakes (EDIs) for these metals in Najran area. The As, Cd, Cr, and Pb concentrations in four staple foods (rice, wheat, red meat, and chicken) were determined by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. A food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was completed by 80 study participants. These data were used to estimate dietary intakes of the metals in the four staple foods. The mean As, Cd, Cr, and Pb EDIs in the four food types were 1.1 × 10⁻⁶–2.6 × 10⁻⁵, 1.42 × 10⁻⁵–2.2 × 10⁻⁴, 3.4 × 10⁻⁴–8.0 × 10⁻⁴, and 2.3 × 10⁻⁵–2.1 × 10⁻³ mg/kg bw day, respectively. Hazard Quotients (HQ) for all elements did not exceed one. The highest Pb concentration was found for chicken and the source of this toxic element in this food needs to be investigated in the future. The lowest As concentration was found for wheat highest in rice. The EDIs for all elements in the four food types were below the provisional tolerable weekly intakes set by the World Health Organization (WHO). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dietary Exposures)

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284 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Toxic Elements in Different Medicinal Plants and the Impact on Human Health

by Eid I. Brima

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14(10), 1209; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14101209 - 11 Oct 2017

Cited by 47 | Viewed by 5005

Abstract

Local medicinal plants from Madina, Saudi Arabia, are used to cure various diseases. However, some can cause adverse health effects. Five different medicinal plants were collected in the city of Madina: mahareeb (Cymbopogon), sheeh (Artemisia), harjal (Cynanchum argel delile), nabipoot (Equisetum), and kafmariam (Vitex agnus-castus). In total, four toxic elements including Al, Pb, As, and Cd were analyzed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The range of recoveries fell between 86.1% and 90.6% for all measured elements. Al levels were the highest of any of the studied elements in all plant samples, with Cymbopogon showing the highest levels. The range of concentrations of Al was 156–1609 mg/kg. Cd appeared at the lowest levels in all plants samples, with Vitex agnus-castus containing this element at the highest levels. Cd concentrations were in the range of 0.01–0.10 mg/kg. A washing process lowered the toxic elements in all plants; average % recoveries were Al (47.32%), As (59.1%), Cd (62.03%), and Pb (32.40%). The calculated human health risk assessment in one dose for toxic elements in all plants was as follows: Al (1.33 × 10⁻³–5.57 × 10⁻² mg/kg.bw), Pb (0–8.86 × 10⁻⁵ mg/kg.bw), As (3.43 × 10⁻⁷–1.33 × 10⁻⁵ mg/kg.bw), and Cd (0–3.14 × 10⁻⁶ mg/kg.bw). Medicinal plants are a source of exposure to toxic elements. However, none of the plants in this study exceeded the daily guideline set by the WHO for any element based on conventional use by the local population. We may cautiously conclude that these medicinal plants pose no risk to users based on conventional use. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dietary Exposures)

1965 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Factors Affecting Transfer of Pyrethroid Residues from Herbal Teas to Infusion and Influence of Physicochemical Properties of Pesticides

by Jin-Jing Xiao, Yang Li, Qing-Kui Fang, Yan-Hong Shi, Min Liao, Xiang-Wei Wu, Ri-Mao Hua and Hai-Qun Cao

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14(10), 1157; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14101157 - 30 Sep 2017

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 4720

Abstract

The transfer of pesticide residues from herbal teas to their infusion is a subject of particular interest. In this study, a multi-residue analytical method for the determination of pyrethroids (fenpropathrin, beta-cypermethrin, lambda-cyhalothrin, and fenvalerate) in honeysuckle, chrysanthemum, wolfberry, and licorice and their infusion samples was validated. The transfer of pyrethroid residues from tea to infusion was investigated at different water temperatures, tea/water ratios, and infusion intervals/times. The results show that low amounts (0–6.70%) of pyrethroids were transferred under the different tea brewing conditions examined, indicating that the infusion process reduced the pyrethroid content in the extracted liquid by over 90%. Similar results were obtained for the different tea varieties, and pesticides with high water solubility and low octanol–water partition coefficients (log K_ow) exhibited high transfer rates. Moreover, the estimated values of the exposure risk to the pyrethroids were in the range of 0.0022–0.33, indicating that the daily intake of the four pyrethroid residues from herbal tea can be regarded as safe. The present results can support the identification of suitable tea brewing conditions for significantly reducing the pesticide residue levels in the infusion. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dietary Exposures)

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347 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mercury, Fatty Acids Content and Lipid Quality Indexes in Muscles of Freshwater and Marine Fish on the Polish Market. Risk Assessment of Fish Consumption

by Joanna Łuczyńska, Beata Paszczyk, Joanna Nowosad and Marek Jan Łuczyński

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14(10), 1120; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14101120 - 25 Sep 2017

Cited by 54 | Viewed by 5119

Abstract

Mercury content and fatty acids in muscles of Perca fluviatilis L. (European perch), Leuciscus idus L. (ide), Cyprinus carpio L. (European or common carp), Oncorhynchus mykiss Walb. (rainbow trout), Platichthys flesus L. (European flounder). and Clupea harengus L. (bream) from the Polish market were investigated. The total mercury was processed with AAS. The fatty acids were analyzed by gas chromatography. The concentration of mercury in muscles varied from 0.006 to 0.138 mg/kg and decreased as follows: perch ≈ ide > flounder > herring ≈ bream ≈ rainbow trout > carp (p ≤ 0.05). There were only significant positive correlations between body weight and mercury content in muscle tissue of carp (r = 0.878), flounder (r = 0.925) and herring (r = 0.982) (p ≤ 0.05). The atherogenic index (AI), thrombogenicity index (TI) and flesh-lipid quality index (FLQ) were calculated as follows 0.33–0.70 (IA), 0.16–0.31 (IT) and 13.01–33.22 (FLQ). Hypocholesterolemic (OFA) and hypercholesterolemic fatty acids (DFA) in muscles of fish ranged from 18.26 to 23.01 and from 73.91 to 78.46, respectively. In most cases, there were not significant correlations between size (body weight and total length) and fatty acids in the muscles of the examined fish (p > 0.05). The Target Hazard Quotient (THQ) values were below 1, which shows that there is no non-carcinogenic health risk to the consumer by consuming the examined fish. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dietary Exposures)

Review

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32 pages, 880 KiB

Open AccessReview

PALTEM: What Parameters Should Be Collected in Disaster Settings to Assess the Long-Term Outcomes of Famine?

by Alexandra Moraru, Maria Moitinho De Almeida and Jean-Marie Degryse

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(5), 857; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15050857 - 25 Apr 2018

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4405

Abstract

Evidence suggests that nutritional status during fetal development and early life leaves an imprint on the genome, which leads to health outcomes not only on a person as an adult but also on his offspring. The purpose of this study is to bring forth an overview of the relevant parameters that need to be collected to assess the long-term and transgenerational health outcomes of famine. A literature search was conducted for the most pertinent articles on the epigenetic effects of famine. The results were compiled, synthesized and discussed with an expert in genetics for critical input and validation. Prenatal and early life exposure to famine was associated with metabolic, cardiovascular, respiratory, reproductive, neuropsychiatric and oncologic diseases. We propose a set of parameters to be collected in disaster settings to assess the long-term outcomes of famine: PALTEM (parameters to assess long-term effects of malnutrition). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dietary Exposures)

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