title: Intake of Phthalate-tainted Foods and Serum Thyroid Hormones in Taiwanese Children and Adolescents.
abstract: On April-May, 2011, phthalates, mainly Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), were deliberately added to a variety of foodstuff as a substitute emulsifier in Taiwan. This study investigated the relationship between DEHP-tainted foodstuffs exposure and thyroid function in possibly affected children and adolescents. Two hundred fifty participants <18 years possibly exposed to DEHP were enrolled in this study between August 2012 and January 2013. Questionnaires were used to collect details on their past exposure to DEHP-tainted food items. Blood and urine samples were collected for biochemical workups to measure current exposure derived from three urinary DEHP metabolites using a creatinine excretion-based model. More than half of 250 participants were estimated to be exposed to DEHP-tainted foods found to exceed the recommend tolerable daily intake of DEHP established by the European Food Safety Authority (<50 μg/kg/day). The median daily DEHP intake (DDI) among those 250 participants was 46.52 μg/kg/day after multiple imputation. This value was ~10-fold higher than the current median DEHP intake (4.46 μg/kg/day, n = 240). Neither past nor current DEHP exposure intensity was significantly associated with serum thyroid profiles. Future studies may want to follow the long-term health effects of this food scandal in affected children and adolescents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Kaohsiung Municipal Ta-Tung Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.|Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hui-Ju
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.|Research Center for Environmental Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chia-Fang
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Division of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yi-Chun
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.affiliation: National Environmental Health Research Center, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Po-Chin
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, College of Medicine, National Yang Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Mei-Lien
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: National Environmental Health Research Center, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Shu-Li
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pediatrics, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.|Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Bai-Hsiun
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Division of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Institute of Population Health Sciences, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chu-Chih
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Taipei Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Wen-Chiu
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Taichung Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taichung.
authors.forename: Pi-Shan
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: Division of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Institute of Population Health Sciences, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chao A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Hsiung
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.|Research Center for Environmental Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.|Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.|Department of Family Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ming-Tsang
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004051:Diethylhexyl Phthalate / Q000633:toxicity*; D005260:Female; D005506:Food Contamination; D059022:Food Safety; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013624:Taiwan; D013963:Thyroid Hormones / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D013963:Thyroid Hormones; D004051:Diethylhexyl Phthalate