The Role of Diet in Children's Exposure to Organophosphate Pesticides

Overview

Journal Environ Res

Publisher Elsevier

Specialty Environmental Health

Date 2016 Feb 13

PMID 26870919

Citations 13

Authors

Francesca Holme

Beti Thompson

Sarah Holte

Eric M Vigoren

Noah Espinoza

Angela Ulrich

William Griffith

Elaine M Faustman

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Studies suggest that some of the greatest exposure to OPs in children occurs in agricultural communities and various pathways of exposure including the take-home pathway, proximity to orchards, and diet have been explored. However, the importance of the dietary pathway of exposure for children in agricultural communities is not well understood.

Objectives: Our goal was to ascertain whether there were associations between measures of OP exposure and apple juice, fruit, and vegetable consumption across growing seasons by children of farmworkers and non-farmworkers in a rural agricultural setting.

Methods: Study participants were children of farmworker (N=100) or non-farmworker (N=100) households from a longitudinal cohort study. Dietary intake of fruits and vegetables was assessed using a "5-A-Day" abbreviated food frequency questionnaire, and exposure to OPs was characterized using three urinary di-methyl and three di-ethyl metabolite measurements per child for each of three growing seasons. We used generalized estimating equations to examine data.

Results: Consumption frequency of fruits and vegetables was similar between children of farmworkers and non-farmworkers and across seasons. There were a few significant trends between dimethyl metabolites (DMAP) and fruit, vegetable or apple juice consumption; however, no clear pattern held across seasons or occupation. One difference was found in vegetable consumption during the harvest season, where the farmworker families showed a significant relationship between vegetable consumption and dimethyl metabolite levels (p=0.002). We also found a significant difference in this relationship between farmworkers and non-farmworkers (p=0.001). No significant trends between fruit and vegetable consumption and diethyl (DEAP) metabolites were found.

Conclusions: Our study shows the importance of considering season and parents' occupation in understanding OP exposure routes among children in an agricultural community. The impact of these factors on dietary OP exposure requires a more thorough analysis of the availability and consumption of produce from different sources including farms using pesticides where parents worked.

Citing Articles

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Exposure Patterns of Multiple Pesticides and Urinary Alterations of Trimethylamine (TMA) and Trimethylamine N-Oxide (TMAO) among Pregnant Women.

Ding J, Dai Y, Wang Z, Zhang B, Xu S, Guo J Environ Health (Wash). 2024; 2(3):126-139.

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Frequency of urinary pesticides in children: a scoping review.

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Urinary Glyphosate Concentrations among Pregnant Participants in a Randomized, Crossover Trial of Organic and Conventional Diets.

Hyland C, Spivak M, Sheppard L, Lanphear B, Antoniou M, Ospina M Environ Health Perspect. 2023; 131(7):77005.

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Effects of Pesticide Intake on Gut Microbiota and Metabolites in Healthy Adults.

Ueyama J, Hayashi M, Hirayama M, Nishiwaki H, Ito M, Saito I Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023; 20(1).

PMID: 36612532 PMC: 9819155. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20010213.

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