Effect of Organic Diet Intervention on Pesticide Exposures in Young Children Living in Low-Income Urban and Agricultural Communities

Bradman, Asa; Quirós-Alcalá, Lesliam; Castorina, Rosemary; Schall, Raul Aguilar; Camacho, José; Holland, Nina; Barr, Dana Boyd; Eskenazi, Brenda

doi:10.1289/ehp.1408660

Cited by 137 publications

(94 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Likewise, systematic reviews consistently conclude that organic foods are less likely than conventional food samples to have detectable pesticide residue (7,91,99). Controlled feeding experiments in children and adults have confirmed that consumption of organic food resulted in lower urinary concentrations of pesticide metabolites than consumption of conventional alternatives (16,26,67,84). These studies and a study that estimated dietary pesticide exposure (25) provide convincing evidence that consumption of organic foods reduces the exposure to synthetic pesticide metabolites.…”

Section: Pesticide Residues In Organic and Conventionally Produced Foodmentioning

confidence: 84%

Organic Food in the Diet: Exposure and Health Implications

Brantsæter

Ydersbond

Hoppin

et al. 2017

Annu. Rev. Public Health

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The market for organic food products is growing rapidly worldwide. Such foods meet certified organic standards for production, handling, processing, and marketing. Most notably, the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and genetic modification is not allowed. One major reason for the increased demand is the perception that organic food is more environmentally friendly and healthier than conventionally produced food. This review provides an update on market data and consumer preferences for organic food and summarizes the scientific evidence for compositional differences and health benefits of organic compared with conventionally produced food. Studies indicate some differences in favor of organic food, including indications of beneficial health effects. Organic foods convey lower pesticide residue exposure than do conventionally produced foods, but the impact of this on human health is not clear. Comparisons are complicated by organic food consumption being strongly correlated with several indicators of a healthy lifestyle and by conventional agriculture "best practices" often being quite close to those of organic.

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Section: Pesticide Residues In Organic and Conventionally Produced Foodmentioning

confidence: 84%

Organic Food in the Diet: Exposure and Health Implications

Brantsæter

Ydersbond

Hoppin

et al. 2017

Annu. Rev. Public Health

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“…Indeed, several short-term intervention studies have showed that young children's exposure to organophosphate pesticides, the most widely used pesticides in agriculture sectors (Chen et al, 2009; Sharma et al, 2010; Wang et al, 2008), is primarily from diet (Bradman et al 2015; Lu et al, 2008, 2006). In addition, although some organochlorine pesticides such as hexachlorobenzene have been banned from use in U.S. for 50 years, their residues persist in soil and water because of their long half-lives and thus they may still affect human health (Jones and de Voogt, 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overall and class-specific scores of pesticide residues from fruits and vegetables as a tool to rank intake of pesticide residues in United States: A validation study

Chiu

Hauser

et al. 2016

Environment International

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Pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables are among the primary sources of pesticide exposure through diet, but the lack of adequate measurements hinder the research on health effects of pesticide residues. Pesticide Residue Burden Score (PRBS) for estimating overall dietary pesticide intake, organochlorine pesticide score (OC-PRBS) and organophosphate pesticide score (OP-PRBS) for estimating organochlorine and organophosphate pesticides-specific intake, respectively, were derived using U.S. Department of Agriculture Pesticide Data Program data and National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) food frequency questionnaire data. We evaluated the performance of these scores by validating the scores against pesticide metabolites measured in urine or serum among 3,679 participants in NHANES using generalized linear regression. The PRBS was positively associated with a score summarizing the ranks of all pesticide metabolites in a linear fashion (p for linear trend <0.001). Furthermore, individuals in the top quintile of this score had urinary pesticide metabolite levels 13.0% (95% CI 8.3%-17.7%) higher than individuals in the lowest quintile. Similarly, we observed significant associations of the OC-PRBS and OP-PRBS with the levels of lipid-adjusted total serum organochlorine pesticides and urinary creatinine-adjusted organophosphate pesticides, respectively. The relative difference (RD) in average pesticide metabolite rank between extreme quintiles was 17.8% (95% CI: 11.1%-24.4%, p for trend <0.001) for the OP-PRBS, whereas the RD was marginally significant at 7.0% (95% CI: -0.5%-14.4%, p for trend 0.07) for the OC-PRBS. The PRBS and OP-PRBS had similar performance when they were derived from fruits and vegetables with high vs. low pesticide residues, respectively (p for trend <0.001 for all associations). The OP-PRBS was associated with all measured organophosphate pesticides, whereas the positive association between OC-PRBS and averaged measured organochlorine pesticide residue rank was primarily driven by hexachlorobenzene. OC-PRBS had better performance when derived from more contaminated fruits and vegetables (p for trend 0.07) than from less contaminated Fruits and vegetables (p for trend 0.63), although neither of the associations achieved statistical significance. The PRBS and the class-specific scores for two major types of pesticides were significantly associated with pesticide biomarkers. These scores can reasonably rank study participants by their pesticide residue exposures from fruits and vegetables in large-scale environmental epidemiological studies.

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“…Urinary metabolites were significantly lower when an organic diet was consumed. Children residing in the agricultural community showed a lower decrease in dimethyl metabolites than those in a suburban community (Bradman et al 2015). It may be that the background noise in an agricultural community (e.g., spray drift) has an effect on all children in an agricultural community (Richter ED et al 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of diet in children's exposure to organophosphate pesticides

Holme

Thompson

Holte

et al. 2016

Environmental Research

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Background Studies suggest that some of the greatest exposure to OPs in children occurs in agricultural communities and various pathways of exposure including the take-home pathway, proximity to orchards, and diet have been explored. However, the importance of the dietary pathway of exposure for children in agricultural communities is not well understood. Objectives Our goal was to ascertain whether there were associations between measures of OP exposure and apple juice, fruit, and vegetable consumption across growing seasons by children of farmworkers and non-farmworkers in a rural agricultural setting. Methods Study participants were children of farmworker (N=100) or non-farmworker (N=100) households from a longitudinal cohort study. Dietary intake of fruits and vegetables was assessed using a “5-A-Day” abbreviated food frequency questionnaire, and exposure to OPs was characterized using three urinary di-methyl and three di-ethyl metabolite measurements per child for each of three growing seasons. We used generalized estimating equations to examine data. Results Consumption frequency of fruits and vegetables was similar between children of farmworkers and non-farmworkers and across seasons. There were a few significant trends between dimethyl metabolites (DMAP) and fruit, vegetable or apple juice consumption; however, no clear pattern held across seasons or occupation. One difference was found in vegetable consumption during the harvest season, where the farmworker families showed a significant relationship between vegetable consumption and dimethyl metabolite levels (p=0.002). We also found a significant difference in this relationship between farmworkers and non-farmworkers (p=0.001). No significant trends between fruit and vegetable consumption and diethyl (DEAP) metabolites were found. Conclusions Our study shows the importance of considering season and parents' occupation in understanding OP exposure routes among children in an agricultural community. The impact of these factors on dietary OP exposure requires a more thorough analysis of the availability and consumption of produce from different sources including farms using pesticides where parents worked.

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Effect of Organic Diet Intervention on Pesticide Exposures in Young Children Living in Low-Income Urban and Agricultural Communities

Cited by 137 publications

References 35 publications

Organic Food in the Diet: Exposure and Health Implications

Organic Food in the Diet: Exposure and Health Implications

Overall and class-specific scores of pesticide residues from fruits and vegetables as a tool to rank intake of pesticide residues in United States: A validation study

The role of diet in children's exposure to organophosphate pesticides

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