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doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2007.07.008 
Copyright © 2007 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.
Dietary exposure to dioxin-like compounds in three age groups: Results from the Flemish environment and health study
Maaike Bilaua, 
, 
, Christophe Matthysa, Willy Baeyensb, Liesbeth Bruckersc, Guy De Backera, Elly Den Hondd, Hans Keunee, Gudrun Koppend, Vera Nelenf, Greet Schoetersd, Nicolas Van Larebekeg, Jan L. Willemsa, Stefaan De Henauwa and On behalf of the Flemish Center of Expertise for Environment and Health
Received 2 April 2007;
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Abstract
Lipophilic contaminants are present in the environment and bioaccumulate in the food chain. Therefore, their intake via animal fat of various sources was assessed for three age groups of the Flemish population, participating in a large biomonitoring program of the Flemish government. In total, 1636 adolescents (14–15 years), 1186 mothers (18–44 years), and 1586 adults (50–65 years) participated in the study and completed a semi quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Individual consumption data were combined, via a so-called simple distribution approach, with recent data on polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins/furans and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls, measured via the chemical-activated luciferase gene expression (CALUX) bio-assay in food items available on the Flemish market.
The median (95th percentile) estimated intakes of dioxin-like contaminants were 2.24 (4.61), 2.09 (4.26), and 1.74 (3.53) pg CALUX-TEQ kg−1 bw d−1 for, respectively adolescents, mothers and adults. These data are in the same range as those found in other European studies. The CALUX-TEQ results of respectively 59.8%, 53.7% and 36.2% of the adolescent, mother and adult population exceed the tolerable weekly intake (TWI) of 14 pg WHO-TEQ kg−1 bw w−1, as derived by the Scientific Committee on Food [Scientific Committee on Food, 2001. Opinion of the Scientific Committee on Food on the Risk Assessment of Dioxins and Dioxin-like PCBs in Food, CS/CNTM/DIOXIN/20 final Brussels, Belgium].
The main contributors of dioxin-like substances are fish and seafood (25–43% of the total intake), added fats (22–25% of the total intake) and dairy products (17–20% of the total intake).
Keywords: Dietary intake; PCDD/Fs; Dioxin-like PCBs; Flanders
Abbreviations: 2,3,7,8-TCDD, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin; AhR, arylhydrocarbon receptor; BMI, body mass index; bw, body weight; CALUX, chemical-activated luciferase gene expression; dl-PCBs, dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls; FFQ, food frequency questionnaire; GC-HRMS, gas chromatography–high resolution mass spectrometry; LOAEL, lowest observed adverse effect level; NOAEL, no observed adverse effect level; PCBs, polychlorinated biphenyls; PCDDs, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins; PCDFs, polychlorinated dibenzofurans; TDI, tolerable daily intake; TEF, toxic equivalence factor; TEQ, toxic equivalents; TWI, tolerable weekly intake
Article Outline
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Material and methods
- 2.1. Participant recruitment
- 2.2. Measurements
- 2.3. Contaminant concentrations
- 2.4. Intake estimation
- 3. Results
- 3.1. Response and participation rate
- 3.2. Characteristics of the participants
- 3.3. Intake estimation of dioxin-like substances
- 3.4. Main contributors of dioxin-like substances via food
- 4. Discussion
- 5. Conclusion
- Conflict of interest statements for authors
- Acknowledgements
- References
