TY - JOUR

T1 - Dietary intakes of dioxins and polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) and mortality

T2 - EPIC cohort study in 9 European countries

AU - Fiolet, Thibault

AU - Nicolas, Geneviève

AU - Casagrande, Corinne

AU - Horvath, Zsuzsanna

AU - Frenoy, Pauline

AU - Weiderpass, Elisabete

AU - Gunter, Marc J.

AU - Manjer, Jonas

AU - Sonestedt, Emily

AU - Palli, Domenico

AU - Simeon, Vittorio

AU - Tumino, Rosario

AU - Bueno-de-Mesquita, Bas

AU - Huerta, José María

AU - Rodriguez-Barranco, Miguel

AU - Abilleira, Eunate

AU - Sacerdote, Carlotta

AU - Schulze, Matthias B.

AU - Heath, Alicia K.

AU - Rylander, Charlotta

AU - Skeie, Guri

AU - Nøst, Therese Haugdahl

AU - Tjønneland, Anne

AU - Olsen, Anja

AU - Pala, Valeria

AU - Kvaskoff, Marina

AU - Huybrechts, Inge

AU - Mancini, Francesca Romana

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023 Elsevier GmbH

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - Dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are toxic, endocrine disruptors and persistent chemicals for which the main exposure source is diet due to their bioaccumulation and biomagnification in food chains. Cohort studies in the general populations have reported inconsistent associations between these chemicals in serum/plasma and mortality. Our objective was to study the association between dietary intake of 17 dioxins and 35 PCBs and all-cause, cancer-specific and cardiovascular-specific mortalities were assessed in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort. Dietary intake of dioxins and PCBs was assessed combining EPIC food consumption data with European food contamination data provided by the European Food Safety Authority. We applied multivariable Cox regressions. The analysis included 451,390 adults (mean ± SD age:51.1 ± 9.7 years) with 46,627 deaths and a median follow-up of 17.4 years (IQR = 15.2–19.1). A U-shaped non-linear association with all-cause mortality for dietary intake of dioxins (Pnon-linearity<0.0001), DL-PCB (Pnon-linearity = 0.0001), and NDL-PCBs (Pnon-linearity<0.01) was observed. For example, the hazard ratios (95%Confidance interval) for all-cause mortality obtained with the spline model was equal to 1.03 (1.02–1.05) for low levels of intake to dioxins (7 pg TEQ/day), 0.93 (0.90–0.96) for moderate levels of intake (25 pg TEQ/day), while for high levels of intake (55 pg TEQ/day) it was 1.03 (0.97–1.09). Intake of dioxins, DL-PCBs and NDL-PCBs was not associated with cardiovascular mortality. There was no association between intakes of dioxins and cancer mortality, but a U-shaped association was observed for intake of DL-PCBs and intakes of NDL-PCBs and cancer mortality. The PCBs and dioxins are known to have endocrine disrupting properties which can lead to non-monotonic dose responses. These results need to be interpreted with caution and further studies are needed to better clarify the association between dietary intake of dioxins and PCB and mortality in the general population.

AB - Dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are toxic, endocrine disruptors and persistent chemicals for which the main exposure source is diet due to their bioaccumulation and biomagnification in food chains. Cohort studies in the general populations have reported inconsistent associations between these chemicals in serum/plasma and mortality. Our objective was to study the association between dietary intake of 17 dioxins and 35 PCBs and all-cause, cancer-specific and cardiovascular-specific mortalities were assessed in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort. Dietary intake of dioxins and PCBs was assessed combining EPIC food consumption data with European food contamination data provided by the European Food Safety Authority. We applied multivariable Cox regressions. The analysis included 451,390 adults (mean ± SD age:51.1 ± 9.7 years) with 46,627 deaths and a median follow-up of 17.4 years (IQR = 15.2–19.1). A U-shaped non-linear association with all-cause mortality for dietary intake of dioxins (Pnon-linearity<0.0001), DL-PCB (Pnon-linearity = 0.0001), and NDL-PCBs (Pnon-linearity<0.01) was observed. For example, the hazard ratios (95%Confidance interval) for all-cause mortality obtained with the spline model was equal to 1.03 (1.02–1.05) for low levels of intake to dioxins (7 pg TEQ/day), 0.93 (0.90–0.96) for moderate levels of intake (25 pg TEQ/day), while for high levels of intake (55 pg TEQ/day) it was 1.03 (0.97–1.09). Intake of dioxins, DL-PCBs and NDL-PCBs was not associated with cardiovascular mortality. There was no association between intakes of dioxins and cancer mortality, but a U-shaped association was observed for intake of DL-PCBs and intakes of NDL-PCBs and cancer mortality. The PCBs and dioxins are known to have endocrine disrupting properties which can lead to non-monotonic dose responses. These results need to be interpreted with caution and further studies are needed to better clarify the association between dietary intake of dioxins and PCB and mortality in the general population.

KW - Deaths

KW - Dioxins

KW - Food contaminants

KW - Mortality

KW - Persistent organic pollutants

KW - Polychlorinated biphenyls

U2 - 10.1016/j.ijheh.2023.114287

DO - 10.1016/j.ijheh.2023.114287

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 37989047

AN - SCOPUS:85178264328

VL - 255

JO - International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health

JF - International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health

SN - 1438-4639

M1 - 114287

ER -