title: Exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals among residents of a rural vegetarian/vegan community.
abstract: Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are increasingly thought to be involved in the rising prevalence of disorders such as obesity, diabetes, and some hormone-dependent cancers. Several lines of evidence have indicated that vegetarian and vegan diets may offer some protection from such diseases. We hypothesized that exposure to selected EDCs among residents of the unique vegetarian/vegan community of Amirim would be lower than what has recently been reported for the omnivorous population in the first Israel Biomonitoring Study (IBMS).
  
  
  
  We studied 42 Amirim residents (29 vegetarians/13 vegans; 24 women/18men, aged 50.7±13.7y). Subjects answered detailed lifestyle, and multipass, memory-based 24-hr dietary recall questionnaires. Concentrations of bisphenol A (BPA), 11 phthalate metabolites, and the isoflavone phytoestrogens (genistein and daidzein) were determined by GC or LC tandem mass-spectrometry on a spot urine sample. The results were compared to those obtained following the same methodology in the Jewish subgroup of the IBMS (n=184).
  
  
  
  While a vegetarian/vegan nutritional pattern had no effect on exposure to BPA, it seemed to confer a modest protection (~21%) from exposure to high molecular weight phthalates. Furthermore, the summed metabolites of the high molecular weight phthalate DiNP were 36% lower in vegans compared to vegetarians (P<0.05). In contrast, Amirim residents exhibited a level of exposure to isoflavone phytoestrogens about an order of magnitude higher than in the IBMS (P<0.001).
  
  
  
  In Israel, a country whose inhabitants demonstrate exposure to EDCs comparable to that of the US and Canada, a voluntary lifestyle of vegetarianism and preference for organic food has a modest, but possibly valuable, impact on exposure to phthalates, while it is associated with a very steep increase in the exposure to phytoestrogens. Major reduction in exposure to EDCs will require regulatory actions.
authors: Institute of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Hypertension, Tel Aviv-Sourasky Medical Center, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. Electronic address: karent@tlvmc.gov.il.
authors: Karen
authors: K
authors: Tordjman
authors: Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, Hebrew University, Rehovot, Israel.
authors: Laura
authors: L
authors: Grinshpan
authors: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
authors: Lena
authors: L
authors: Novack
authors: Institute and Outpatient Clinic of Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Göen
authors: Biotechnology Engineering, Braude College, Karmiel, Israel.
authors: Dar
authors: D
authors: Segev
authors: University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors: Lisa
authors: L
authors: Beacher
authors: Institute of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Hypertension, Tel Aviv-Sourasky Medical Center, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors: Naftali
authors: N
authors: Stern
authors: Department of Environmental Health, Ministry of Health, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors: Tamar
authors: T
authors: Berman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001559:Benzhydryl Compounds / Q000652:urine; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D014676:Diet, Vegetarian; D052244:Endocrine Disruptors / Q000652:urine*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005260:Female; D058870:Food, Organic; D019833:Genistein / Q000652:urine; D006801:Humans; D007529:Isoflavones / Q000652:urine; D007557:Israel; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010636:Phenols / Q000652:urine; D010795:Phthalic Acids / Q000652:urine; D048789:Phytoestrogens / Q000652:urine; D012424:Rural Population; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D000066989:Vegans; D000066988:Vegetarians; D000098826:Bisphenol A Compounds
chemical_list: D001559:Benzhydryl Compounds; D052244:Endocrine Disruptors; D019833:Genistein; D007529:Isoflavones; D010636:Phenols; D010795:Phthalic Acids; D048789:Phytoestrogens; C004742:daidzein; C032279:phthalic acid; C006780:bisphenol A; D000098826:Bisphenol A Compounds
keywords: Biomonitoring; Endocrine disrupting chemicals; Organic food; Plastic; Veganism; Vegetarianism