Despite daily exposure to chemicals in cosmetic products, there are few studies on the exposure levels to cosmetics particularly in Asians. We sought to investigate the usage pattern of cosmetics, including eye makeup products, fragrances, color makeups, and hair and nail care products, in Koreans. An online survey of 1,800 participants (908 males and 892 females, aged 15-59 years) from 5 Metropolitan cities (Seoul, Incheon, Daejeon, Daegu, and Busan) in Korea was conducted. For overall types of cosmetics, the proportion of users was 7.1% (range: 0.0-46.3%) in males and 30.7% (range: 1.0-82.8%) in females. The most prevalently used product was perfume (46.3%) in males and lipstick (82.8%) in females. In addition, the mean number of application for overall types of cosmetics was 22.7 (range: 4.6-49.4) times per month in male users and 24.8 (range: 4.2-62.0) in female users. The usage pattern was significantly altered according to demographic and socioeconomic factors, including age group, occupation, and income. This work estimated the prevalences and frequencies of use of a wide collection of cosmetics from a large number of Koreans and found that the usage pattern was significantly associated with demographic and socioeconomic factors.
There has been a notable promotion of fish consumption based on the importance of fish as a part of a healthy diet. However, the balance between health benefits and risks, due to the intake of chemical contaminants, is not well characterized. In the present study, we analyzed data on blood mercury level and dietary intakes of 1,983 urban children aged 7 to 8 year in Korea. Dietary intakes were assessed by a semi‐quantitative food frequency questionnaire and blood mercury level was analyzed by the cold vapor generation method. A cut of point of 2μ/L of blood mercury level was used to categorize children into high (n = 934) and low (n = 1,049) groups. After adjusting for possible confounding variables, intakes of animal iron, zinc, and n3‐fatty acids were positively associated with high blood mercury level. In food group analyses, more frequent consumptions of white and blue fishes, shell fishes, processed and fermented fishes were observed in the high mercury group than the low mercury group. These results showed blood mercury level is strongly associated with fish consumption independent of type of fish. (Supported by a grant from the Ministry of Environment, Korea in 2006)
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