Abstract

Background: Over 1800 food contact chemicals (FCCs) are known to migrate from food contact articles used to store, process, package, and serve foodstuffs. Many of these FCCs have hazard properties of concern, and still others have never been tested for toxicity. Humans are known to be exposed to FCCs via foods, but the full extent of human exposure to all FCCs is unknown.

Objective: To close this important knowledge gap, we conducted a systematic overview of FCCs that have been monitored and detected in human biomonitoring studies according to a previously published protocol.

Methods: We first compared the more than 14,000 known FCCs to five biomonitoring programs and three metabolome/exposome databases. In a second step, we prioritized FCCs that have been frequently detected in food contact materials and systematically mapped the available evidence for their presence in humans.

Results: For 25% of the known FCCs (3601), we found evidence for their presence in humans. This includes 194 FCCs from human biomonitoring programs, with 80 of these having hazard properties of high concern. Of the 3528 FCCs included in metabolome/exposome databases, most are from the Blood Exposome Database. We found evidence for the presence in humans for 63 of the 175 prioritized FCCs included in the systematic evidence map, and 59 of the prioritized FCCs lack hazard data.

Significance: Notwithstanding that there are also other sources of exposure for many FCCs, these data will help to prioritize FCCs of concern by linking information on migration and biomonitoring. Our results on FCCs monitored in humans are available as an interactive dashboard (FCChumon) to enable policymakers, public health researchers, and food industry decision-makers to make food contact materials and articles safer, reduce human exposure to hazardous FCCs and improve public health.

Impact statement: We present systematically compiled evidence on human exposure to 3601 food contact chemicals (FCCs) and highlight FCCs that are of concern because of their known hazard properties. Further, we identify relevant data gaps for FCCs found in food contact materials and foods. This article improves the understanding of food contact materials’ contribution to chemical exposure for the human population and highlights opportunities for improving public health.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41370-024-00718-2

Abstract

Background: Vegetarianism is commonly associated with various health benefits. However, the association between this dietary regimen and aspects of mental health remains ambiguous. This study compared the symptoms of depression and anxiety, emotional eating (EmE), and body mass index (BMI) in Peruvian vegetarian and non-vegetarian adults.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 768 Peruvian adults, of whom 284 (37%) were vegetarians and 484 (63%) were non-vegetarians. The Depression Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2), Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-2 (GAD-2), and an EmE questionnaire were applied; additionally, the BMI was calculated. Simple and multiple linear regression and Poisson regression models with robust variance were used to evaluate the association between depression, anxiety, EmE, and BMI with dietary patterns.

Results: The vegetarians (Adjusted Prevalence Ratio [PR] = 0.24, 95% CI 0.16-0.31; p < 0.001) reported more depressive symptoms than the non-vegetarians. This trend persisted for anxiety, with an adjusted PR of 0.17 (95% CI: 0.01-0.29; p = 0.012). However, the vegetarians (adjusted PR = -0.38, 95% CI: -0.61--0.14; p < 0.001) reported lower EmE scores compared to the non-vegetarians. Likewise, the vegetarians had a lower mean BMI than the non-vegetarians (B = -0.16, 95% CI: -0.21--0.08; p < 0.001).

Conclusions: Vegetarian diets are associated with increased symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as lower EmE and BMI scores. Further longitudinal studies are needed to elucidate these associations and determine causality and the underlying mechanisms involved.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38892596/

Abstract Context Evidence on the link between iron status markers and insulin resistance (IR) is limited.

Objective We aimed to explore the relationship between iron status and IR among US adults.

Methods This study involved 2993 participants from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2006, 2017-2020. IR is characterized by a homeostatic model assessment (HOMA)-IR value of ≥2.5. Weighted linear and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to examine the linear relationships between iron status and IR. Furthermore, restricted cubic splines (RCS) were used to identify the nonlinear dose–response associations. Stratified analyses by age, sex, body mass index, and physical activity were also performed. Last, a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the predictive value of iron status in IR.

Results In weighted linear analyses, serum iron (SI) exhibited a negative correlation with HOMA-IR (β −0.03, 95% CI −0.05, −0.01, P = .01). In weighted multivariate logistic analyses, iron intake and the serum transferrin receptor (sTfR) were positively correlated with IR (OR 1.02, 95% CI 1.00-1.04, P = .04; OR 1.07, 95% CI 1.02-1.13, P = .01). Also, SI and transferrin saturation (TSAT) were negatively correlated with IR (OR 0.96, 95% CI 0.94-0.98, P < .0001; OR 0.98, 95% CI 0.97-0.99, P < .001) after adjusting for confounding factors. RCS depicted a nonlinear dose–response relationship between sTfR and TSAT and IR. This correlation remained consistent across various population subgroups. The ROC curve showed that TSAT performed better than iron intake, SI and sTfR in ROC analyses for IR prediction.

Conclusion All biomarkers demonstrated significantly lower risk of IR with increasing iron levels, which will contribute to a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the relationship between the 2 and provide a solid foundation for future exploration of the mechanisms underlying their relationship.