Dioxin concentration in human milk in Hebei province in China and Tokyo, Japan: potential dietary risk factors and determination of possible sources.
Very limited information is available on body burdens and environmental levels of dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs (dl-PCBs) in mainland China. In the current studies, human milk samples were collected from 30 breastfeeding mothers in Shijiazhuang city (industrialized) and 11 in the Tanshan countryside (agricultural) of Hebei Province in northern China. An additional 20 samples were obtained from mothers in Tokyo, Japan. PCDDs, PCDFs, and dl-PCBs in human milk were analyzed by high-resolution gas chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry. Our results show that arithmetic means for body burdens of PCDDs/Fs and dl-PCBs in Hebei were 3.6 and 1.9 pg TEQg(-1) fat, respectively, which were only about one fourth of the levels in Japan. In addition, no difference was found in the chemical levels except dl-PCBs between the urban and rural areas. Based on the results of an in-person interview of the Chinese mothers using a 59-item questionnaire, freshwater fish consumption was found to correlate with the body burden of dioxins. Principal component analysis of dioxin congeners revealed that the patterns of dioxins in the Hebei urban and rural areas are quite similar; however, they are clearly different from those in Japan. Collectively, our results suggest that the lower body burdens of dioxin in Hebei may be due in part to the relatively slow industrialization and a lower consumption of marine foods. Finally, the results indicate that comprehensive monitoring of dioxins and dl-PCBs in humans as well as in the environment and foods is necessary in China.
Sun
Su-Ju
SJ
Department of Environmental Medicine, Center for Community Medicine, Jichi Medical School, Tochigi 329-0498, Japan.
Zhao
Jian-Hong
JH
Liu
Huai-Jun
HJ
Liu
Dian-Wu
DW
Ma
Yu-Xia
YX
Li
Li
L
Horiguchi
Hyogo
H
Uno
Hideyuki
H
Iida
Takao
T
Koga
Minoru
M
Kiyonari
Yasuhiro
Y
Nakamura
Masafumi
M
Sasaki
Satoshi
S
Fukatu
Hideo
H
Clark
George C
GC
Kayama
Fujio
F
D000328:Adult; D002681:China; D004032:Diet; D004147:Dioxins / Q000032:analysis*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008895:Milk, Human / Q000737:chemistry*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population; D014041:Tokyo; D014505:Urban Population
D004147:Dioxins; D004785:Environmental Pollutants