Background: Phthalates, polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFASs), and bisphenol A (BPA) are widely used industrial chemicals that can adversely impact human health. Human exposure is ubiquitous and can occur through diet, including consumption of processed or packaged food. Objective: To examine associations between recent fast food intake and: 1) BPA; 2) urinary metabolites of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (ΣDEHPm) and diisononyl phthalate (DiNPm); and 3) serum concentrations of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) among the US population. Methods: We combined data on 8876 participants from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES 2003-2010). Using 24-hour dietary recall data, we quantified: 1) fast food intake (percent of total energy intake (TEI) from fast food); 2) fast food-derived fat intake (percent of TEI from fat in fast food); and 3) fast food intake by food group (dairy, eggs, grains, meat, and other). We examined associations between dietary exposures and urinary chemical concentrations using multivariate linear regression. Results: Recent fast food consumers had significantly higher levels of phthalates and PFOA but not BPA or PFOS compared to non-consumers (p&lt;0.05). We observed evidence of a positive, dose-response relationship between fast food intake and exposure to phthalates (p-trend&lt;0.0001); participants with high consumption (≥34.9% TEI from fast food) had 23.4% (95% CI: 11.8%, 36.2%) and 39.4% (95% CI: 22.4%, 58.9%) higher levels of ΣDEHPm and DiNPm, respectively, than non-consumers. Fast food-derived fat intake was also positively associated with ΣDEHPm and DiNPm (p-trend &lt;0.0001). Fast food meat and grain intake remained associated with ΣDEHPm and DiNPm after adjusting for other fast food groups. Conclusion: These findings support efforts to reduce fast food consumption and to monitor chemicals in the food supply.

Using national biomonitoring data to understand the contribution of dietary sources to human exposures of phthalates, bisphenol A, and polyfluoroalkyl substances

254th National Meeting (2017)

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