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Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are widely used in many industrial and commercial materials as a class of brominated flame retardants (BFRs), and its related exposure threatens human health (1). Certain PBDEs have been banned worldwide, and the congeners in commercial penta-BDE mixtures, octa-BDE mixtures, and deca-BDE mixtures — including BDE-47, -99, -153, -154, -175, -183, and -209 — were listed as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) by the Stockholm Convention (2-3).
The details of the Total Diet Study (TDS) are described in the Foreword of this issue (4), and the measurement of PBDEs was detailed elsewhere (5-6). PBDEs were detectable in all samples. The concentrations of PBDEs varied greatly among various food groups as depicted in Table 1. The levels of ∑7PBDEs, the summation of 7 PBDE congeners, were dominated by aquatic products with 39.85±33.46 pg/g fresh weight (mean±standard deviation), followed by meats and eggs with concentrations of 29.75±32.73 pg/g fresh weight and 22.19±31.96 pg/g fresh weight, respectively. Lower concentrations were observed in dairy products and other plant origin food samples (P<0.05), which was consistent with other studies (7). Dietary intake of ∑7PBDEs for Chinese adults was 0.24±0.38 ng/kg body weight per day (mean±standard deviation) with a range of 0.02–1.96 ng/kg body weight per day, and the geometric mean was 0.13 ng/kg body weight per day. The dietary exposure varied greatly across all regions, as listed in Table 2. Adults from Zhejiang ingested the highest level of ∑7PBDEs at 1.96 ng/kg body weight per day, followed by those in Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, and Fujian with a dietary intake of 0.39, 0.38, and 0.36 ng/kg body weight per day, respectively. Generally, the dietary exposure levels in southeastern and southern coastal regions with more industrialization were relatively high, while the levels in central and western regions with typical agriculture and animal husbandry such as Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, and Shanxi were relatively low. Risk assessment was conducted using the margin of exposure (MOE) approach, and in this study, a conservative estimate was applied, calculated through dividing the levels of Σ7PBDEs by bench marker dose lower confidence limit 10% (BMDL10) of BDE-47, -99, and -153, respectively, applied by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The large MOEs ranging 1.0×103–1.7×107 indicated a low health risk in China.
Food group N* Mean† Geometric mean§ Median Min Max Cereals 24 5.60±15.18 2.13 (0.45, 10.14) 2.30 0.13 102.76 Legumes 24 7.06±10.68 3.92 (1.22, 12.62) 3.96 0.78 44.85 Potatoes 24 9.12±24.06 3.78 (1.19, 12.02) 4.28 0.33 128.04 Meats 24 29.75±32.73 21.58 (9.28, 50.16) 19.59 4.70 165.14 Eggs 24 22.19±31.96 16.17 (6.50, 40.27) 15.74 3.82 206.63 Aquatic products 24 39.85±33.46 31.42 (13.61, 72.55) 31.99 3.05 163.81 Dairy products 24 4.17±6.12 2.53 (0.98, 6.53) 2.29 0.40 31.64 Vegetables 24 8.95±12.47 4.32 (1.03, 18.02) 5.34 0.09 60.95 Note: The unit of mean, GM, median, min, and max are pg/g fresh weight.
Abbreviations: PBDEs=polybrominated diphenyl ethers; TDS=Total Diet Study.
* Number of food composites of each food group.
† Data are mean ± standard deviation.
§ Data were geometric mean (+1 geometric standard deviation, -1 geometric standard deviation).Table 1. Concentrations of ∑7PBDEs in food categories from the Sixth TDS in China.
Dietary intake range of
PBDEs (ng/kg body weight per day)Regions (average dietary exposure to PBDEs) 0.01–0.09 Qinghai (0.09); Shanxi (0.09); Hubei (0.08); Shandong (0.07); Heilongjiang (0.04); Hebei (0.04); Henan (0.03); Ningxia (0.02); Shaanxi (0.02) 0.10–0.19 Beijing (0.18); Jiangsu (0.13); Jiangxi (0.10) 0.20–0.29 Guizhou (0.27); Jilin (0.26); Sichuan (0.25); Liaoning (0.22); Shanghai (0.21); Guangdong (0.20); Gansu (0.20); Hunan (0.20) 0.30–0.39 Inner Mongolia (0.39); Guangxi (0.38); Fujian (0.36) >0.39 Zhejiang (1.96) Abbreviations: PBDEs=polybrominated diphenyl ethers; TDS=Total Diet Study; PLADs=provincial-level administrative divisions. Table 2. Estimated dietary exposure to ∑7PBDEs from the Sixth TDS — 24 PLADs, China.
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