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Dietary intakes of dioxins and polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) and mortality : EPIC cohort study in 9 European countries

Fiolet, Thibault ; Nicolas, Geneviève ; Casagrande, Corinne ; Horvath, Zsuzsanna ; Frenoy, Pauline ; Weiderpass, Elisabete ; Gunter, Marc J. ; Manjer, Jonas LU ; Sonestedt, Emily LU orcid and Palli, Domenico , et al. (2024) In International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health 255.
Abstract

Dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are toxic, endocrine disruptors and persistent chemicals for which the main exposure source is diet due to their bioaccumulation and biomagnification in food chains. Cohort studies in the general populations have reported inconsistent associations between these chemicals in serum/plasma and mortality. Our objective was to study the association between dietary intake of 17 dioxins and 35 PCBs and all-cause, cancer-specific and cardiovascular-specific mortalities were assessed in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort. Dietary intake of dioxins and PCBs was assessed combining EPIC food consumption data with European food contamination data provided by the... (More)

Dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are toxic, endocrine disruptors and persistent chemicals for which the main exposure source is diet due to their bioaccumulation and biomagnification in food chains. Cohort studies in the general populations have reported inconsistent associations between these chemicals in serum/plasma and mortality. Our objective was to study the association between dietary intake of 17 dioxins and 35 PCBs and all-cause, cancer-specific and cardiovascular-specific mortalities were assessed in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort. Dietary intake of dioxins and PCBs was assessed combining EPIC food consumption data with European food contamination data provided by the European Food Safety Authority. We applied multivariable Cox regressions. The analysis included 451,390 adults (mean ± SD age:51.1 ± 9.7 years) with 46,627 deaths and a median follow-up of 17.4 years (IQR = 15.2–19.1). A U-shaped non-linear association with all-cause mortality for dietary intake of dioxins (Pnon-linearity<0.0001), DL-PCB (Pnon-linearity = 0.0001), and NDL-PCBs (Pnon-linearity<0.01) was observed. For example, the hazard ratios (95%Confidance interval) for all-cause mortality obtained with the spline model was equal to 1.03 (1.02–1.05) for low levels of intake to dioxins (7 pg TEQ/day), 0.93 (0.90–0.96) for moderate levels of intake (25 pg TEQ/day), while for high levels of intake (55 pg TEQ/day) it was 1.03 (0.97–1.09). Intake of dioxins, DL-PCBs and NDL-PCBs was not associated with cardiovascular mortality. There was no association between intakes of dioxins and cancer mortality, but a U-shaped association was observed for intake of DL-PCBs and intakes of NDL-PCBs and cancer mortality. The PCBs and dioxins are known to have endocrine disrupting properties which can lead to non-monotonic dose responses. These results need to be interpreted with caution and further studies are needed to better clarify the association between dietary intake of dioxins and PCB and mortality in the general population.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Deaths, Dioxins, Food contaminants, Mortality, Persistent organic pollutants, Polychlorinated biphenyls
in
International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health
volume
255
article number
114287
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • pmid:37989047
  • scopus:85178264328
ISSN
1438-4639
DOI
10.1016/j.ijheh.2023.114287
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
02dc7791-115d-4271-839e-f54eb44b950c
date added to LUP
2023-12-18 14:46:19
date last changed
2024-04-17 02:55:59
@article{02dc7791-115d-4271-839e-f54eb44b950c,
  abstract     = {{<p>Dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are toxic, endocrine disruptors and persistent chemicals for which the main exposure source is diet due to their bioaccumulation and biomagnification in food chains. Cohort studies in the general populations have reported inconsistent associations between these chemicals in serum/plasma and mortality. Our objective was to study the association between dietary intake of 17 dioxins and 35 PCBs and all-cause, cancer-specific and cardiovascular-specific mortalities were assessed in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort. Dietary intake of dioxins and PCBs was assessed combining EPIC food consumption data with European food contamination data provided by the European Food Safety Authority. We applied multivariable Cox regressions. The analysis included 451,390 adults (mean ± SD age:51.1 ± 9.7 years) with 46,627 deaths and a median follow-up of 17.4 years (IQR = 15.2–19.1). A U-shaped non-linear association with all-cause mortality for dietary intake of dioxins (P<sub>non-linearity</sub>&lt;0.0001), DL-PCB (P<sub>non-linearity</sub> = 0.0001), and NDL-PCBs (P<sub>non-linearity</sub>&lt;0.01) was observed. For example, the hazard ratios (95%Confidance interval) for all-cause mortality obtained with the spline model was equal to 1.03 (1.02–1.05) for low levels of intake to dioxins (7 pg TEQ/day), 0.93 (0.90–0.96) for moderate levels of intake (25 pg TEQ/day), while for high levels of intake (55 pg TEQ/day) it was 1.03 (0.97–1.09). Intake of dioxins, DL-PCBs and NDL-PCBs was not associated with cardiovascular mortality. There was no association between intakes of dioxins and cancer mortality, but a U-shaped association was observed for intake of DL-PCBs and intakes of NDL-PCBs and cancer mortality. The PCBs and dioxins are known to have endocrine disrupting properties which can lead to non-monotonic dose responses. These results need to be interpreted with caution and further studies are needed to better clarify the association between dietary intake of dioxins and PCB and mortality in the general population.</p>}},
  author       = {{Fiolet, Thibault and Nicolas, Geneviève and Casagrande, Corinne and Horvath, Zsuzsanna and Frenoy, Pauline and Weiderpass, Elisabete and Gunter, Marc J. and Manjer, Jonas and Sonestedt, Emily and Palli, Domenico and Simeon, Vittorio and Tumino, Rosario and Bueno-de-Mesquita, Bas and Huerta, José María and Rodriguez-Barranco, Miguel and Abilleira, Eunate and Sacerdote, Carlotta and Schulze, Matthias B. and Heath, Alicia K. and Rylander, Charlotta and Skeie, Guri and Nøst, Therese Haugdahl and Tjønneland, Anne and Olsen, Anja and Pala, Valeria and Kvaskoff, Marina and Huybrechts, Inge and Mancini, Francesca Romana}},
  issn         = {{1438-4639}},
  keywords     = {{Deaths; Dioxins; Food contaminants; Mortality; Persistent organic pollutants; Polychlorinated biphenyls}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health}},
  title        = {{Dietary intakes of dioxins and polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) and mortality : EPIC cohort study in 9 European countries}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheh.2023.114287}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.ijheh.2023.114287}},
  volume       = {{255}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}