title: The role of diet in children's exposure to organophosphate pesticides.
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.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  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.
authors: Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
authors: Francesca
authors: F
authors: Holme
authors: Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA. Electronic address: bthompso@fhcrc.org.
authors: Beti
authors: B
authors: Thompson
authors: Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA.
authors: Sarah
authors: S
authors: Holte
authors: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
authors: Eric M
authors: EM
authors: Vigoren
authors: Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA.
authors: Noah
authors: N
authors: Espinoza
authors: Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA.
authors: Angela
authors: A
authors: Ulrich
authors: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
authors: William
authors: W
authors: Griffith
authors: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
authors: Elaine M
authors: EM
authors: Faustman
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004032:Diet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D005190:Family; D000067565:Farmers; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit / Q000737:chemistry; D000067030:Fruit and Vegetable Juices / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009943:Organophosphorus Compounds / Q000378:metabolism*; D010575:Pesticides / Q000378:metabolism*; D012424:Rural Population; D012621:Seasons; D014675:Vegetables / Q000737:chemistry; D014861:Washington
chemical_list: D009943:Organophosphorus Compounds; D010575:Pesticides
keywords: Agricultural community; Children; Diet; Farmworker; Organophosphate pesticides; Pesticide; Pesticide exposure; Rural