title: Soil ingestion in adults--results of a second pilot study.
abstract: Soil ingestion was evaluated in 10 adults as part of a larger study to evaluate soil ingestion in children. Each adult was followed for 4 weeks in a mass-balance study that was designed to evaluate the detection limit for soil ingestion in a similarly designed, concurrent children's study. After a baseline week, during Weeks 2 through 4, adults received daily soil capsules containing 20, 100, and 500 mg of soil, respectively. A 1-week period separated each study week. Based on the first 3 weeks of observation after subtracting the capsule ingestion amounts, the median, 75th percentile, and 95th percentile soil ingestion estimates were 1, 49, and 331 mg/day, with estimates calculated as the median of the three trace elements Al, Si, and Y. The average estimate of soil ingestion was 10 mg/day (SD = 94 mg/day). These findings augment sparse empirical data on adult soil ingestion, and suggest lower levels of soil ingestion in adults than previous studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst 01003, USA.
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Stanek
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Calabrese
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Barnes
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pekow
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis; D005243:Feces / Q000737:chemistry; D005504:Food Analysis; D005506:Food Contamination; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012987:Soil / Q000032:analysis*; D014131:Trace Elements / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D004391:Dust; D012987:Soil; D014131:Trace Elements