Self-Reported Consumption of School Lunches and Urinary Phthalate Metabolite Levels in US Children

摘要

Certain phthalate diesters are common components of food packaging materials and can migrate to foods with contact, potentially making diet a major source of exposure. Accordingly, school lunches, which are regularly consumed by children in the US, may be an important contributor to overall dietary exposure to phthalates in this part of the population. In this study, we investigated the association between eating school-prepared lunch and urinary phthalate metabolites measured in school age children (6-19 years) in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Study participants were restricted to those who attended school and who reported whether or not they consumed school lunches. Analyses were performed separately in kids (ages 12 and below) and teens (ages 13 and above) because of differences in school lunch consumption, other potential exposure sources, and metabolism. From 2003-2014, 4510 participants in NHANES reported attending school and provided information on school lunch consumption. Of these, 20.3% reported never eating school lunch (0 days per week); 19.3% reported eating school lunch sometimes (1-4 days per week); and 60.4% reported always eating school lunch (5 days per week). In fully adjusted models, we observed significantly higher urinary phthalate metabolite levels in kids who always ate school lunch compared to those who never ate school lunch, particularly for the metabolites of di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP). Kids who always ate school lunch had 26-31% higher urinary DEHP metabolites compared to kids who never ate school lunch (p≤0.01). Levels of other high molecular weight phthalates, including mono-carboxyoctyl phthalate and mono-3-carboxypropyl phthalate, were also significantly elevated in kids who always ate school lunch (25-43% higher, p<0.01). No significant differences in phthalate metabolites were noted in teens by these groups. School lunch may be an important source of exposure to phthalates in kids under the age of 12.