title: Organochlorines in Danish women: predictors of adipose tissue concentrations.
abstract: Organochlorines (OCs) are ubiquitously present in the environment, and food of animal origin is currently reported as the major source of exposure. Carcinogenicity in animals raises concern, and OCs may also be a risk factor for both neurological and immunological effects. Our primary objective was to study predictors of adipose tissue levels of dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in Danish women. We showed that adipose tissue concentrations of DDE and PCBs were consistently positively associated with age and the consumption of fish with a high fat content, while total lifetime duration of lactation had an inverse relationship. The direction of the association with body mass index (BMI) depended on the OC studied. The consumption of meat, fruit, lean fish, medium-fat-content fish, poultry, and eggs was not associated with OC concentrations in our study. We classified fish according to fat percentage, which seems more relevant than considering only total fish consumption. When PCBs were subdivided according to their chemical structure, similar results were obtained for the mono-, di-, and tri-ortho PCBs, indicating that PCBs can be treated as a homogenous group when studying predictors of concentrations in humans. In conclusion, the present study shows that age, lactation, and BMI are consistent predictors of human adipose tissue concentrations of DDE and PCBs and that dietary factors other than fish with a high fat content are not important predictors of these concentrations.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cancer Epidemiology, Danish Cancer Society, 49 Strandboulevarden, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Elvira
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vaclavik
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tjonneland
authors.forename: Connie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stripp
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Overvad
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Philippe Weber
authors.forename: Ole
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Raaschou-Nielsen
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000737:chemistry*; D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003718:Denmark; D003633:Dichlorodiphenyl Dichloroethylene / Q000032:analysis / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D004032:Diet; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D007306:Insecticides / Q000032:analysis / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D007774:Lactation; D008875:Middle Aged; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000032:analysis / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D011200:Poultry; D017747:Seafood; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D007306:Insecticides; D003633:Dichlorodiphenyl Dichloroethylene; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls