title: Dietary exposure to brominated flame retardants correlates with male blood levels in a selected group of Norwegians with a wide range of seafood consumption.
abstract: This study investigates dietary exposure and serum levels of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) in a group of Norwegians (n = 184) with a wide range of seafood consumption (4-455 g/day). Mean dietary exposure to Sum 5 PBDEs (1.5 ng/kg body weight/day) is among the highest reported. Since concentrations in foods were similar to those found elsewhere in Europe, this may be explained by high seafood consumption among Norwegians. Oily fish was the main dietary contributor both to Sum PBDEs and to the considerably lower HBCD intake (0.3 ng/kg body weight/day). Milk products appeared to contribute most to the BDE-209 intake (1.4 ng/kg body weight/day). BDE-209 and HBCD exposures are based on few food samples and need to be confirmed. Serum levels (mean Sum 7 PBDEs = 5.2 ng/g lipid) and congener patterns (BDE-47 > BDE-153 > BDE-99) were comparable with other European reports. Correlations between individual congeners were higher for the calculated dietary exposure than for serum levels. Further, significant but weak correlations were found between dietary exposure and serum levels for Sum PBDEs, BDE-47, and BDE-28 in males. This indicates that other sources in addition to diet need to be addressed.
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway. helle.knutsen@fhi.no
authors.forename: Helle K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Knutsen
authors.forename: Helen E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Kvalem
authors.forename: Cathrine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Thomsen
authors.forename: May
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Frøshaug
authors.forename: Margaretha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haugen
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Becher
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.forename: Helle M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Meltzer
mesh_terms: D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D005411:Flame Retardants / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000032:analysis; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers; D006801:Humans; D006842:Hydrocarbons, Brominated / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D009664:Norway; D011075:Polybrominated Biphenyls / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood*; D017747:Seafood / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D005411:Flame Retardants; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers; D006842:Hydrocarbons, Brominated; D011075:Polybrominated Biphenyls; C511295:2,2',4,4'-tetrabromodiphenyl ether; C089796:hexabromocyclododecane