Leif Busk

Dietary exposure assessments for children in europe (the EXPOCHI project): rationale, methods and design.

Background/purposeThe number of dietary exposure assessment studies focussing on children is very limited. Children are however a vulnerable group due to their higher food consumption level per kg body weight. Therefore, the EXPOCHI project aims [1] to create a relational network of individual food consumption databases in children, covering different geographical areas within Europe, and [2] to use these data to assess the usual intake of lead, chromium, selenium and food colours.MethodsEXPOCHI includes 14 food consumption databases focussed on children (1-14 y old). The data are considered representative at national/regional level: 14 regions covering 13 countries. Since the aim of the study is to perform long-term exposure assessments, only data derived from 24 hr dietary recalls and dietary records recorded on at least two non-consecutive days per individual were included in the dietary exposure assessments. To link consumption data and concentration data of lead, chromium and selenium in a standardised way, categorisation of the food consumption data was based on the food categorisation system described within the SCOOP Task report 3.2.11. For food colours, the food categorisation system specified in the Council Directive 94/36/EC was used.ConclusionThe EXPOCHI project includes a pan-European long-term exposure assessment of lead, chromium, selenium and food colours among children living in 13 different EU countries. However, the different study methods and designs used to collect the data in the different countries necessitate an in-depth description of these different methods and a discussion about the resulting limitations.

Retinol (vitamin A) as an inhibitor of the mutagenicity of aflatoxin B1

Vitamin A (retinol) was shown to inhibit the mutagenic activity of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), when added to the Ames Salmonella/mammalian microsome assay. The inhibition was dose-dependent and not caused by a direct toxic effect on the test bacteria. On the other hand the mutagenicity of diepoxybutane, a mutagen not requiring metabolic activation, was not affected by retinol, indicating that the vitamin does not act as a general scavenger of reactive compounds. The mutagenicity of AFB1 depends on the balance between formation and breakdown of aflatoxin 2,3-epoxide, the presumed ultimate mutagenic/carcinogenic metabolite. Inhibition of AFB1 mutagenicity could thus result from decreased formation or increased breakdown of the 2,3-epoxide.

Evaluation of the DNA damaging effect of the heat-induced food toxicant 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in various cell lines with different activities of sulfotransferases.

5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), a heat-induced food toxicant present in a vast number of food items, has been suggested to be genotoxic after being bioactivated by the sulfotransferase SULT1A1. The comet assay was used to evaluate the DNA damaging effect of HMF in cell lines with different activities of SULT1A1: two human cell lines (Caco-2, low activity; and HEK293, higher activity), one cell line from mouse (L5178Y, no activity) and two cell lines from Chinese hamster (V79, negligible activity; and V79-hP-PST, high activity of human SULT1A1). HMF induced significant DNA damage in all cell lines after 3 h exposure to 100 mM. Most sensitive were V79 and V79-hP-PST where HMF induced significant DNA damage at 25 mM. Consequently, in the present study we have shown that HMF is a DNA damaging agent in vitro independent of the activity of SULT1A1 in the cells. The HMF-induced DNA damage was only observed at rather high concentrations which usually was associated with a concomitant decrease in cell viability.

Modulation of 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin and Phenobarbital Induced Promotion of Hepatocarcinogenesis in Rats by the Type of Diet and Vitamin A Deficiency

This study was undertaken to investigate the influence of dietary vitamin A deficiency and type of diet on tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD)- and phenobarbital-induced liver tumor promotion in rats. Female Sprague-Dawley rats were partially hepatectomized and subsequently initiated with nitrosodiethylamine. One week later the rats were allocated to five different dietary regimens for the duration of the study: three purified (casein-based) diets containing 200, 1200, and 10000 IU vitamin A per kilogram, respectively, and two conventional (cereal-based) rat diets containing 2000 and 14000 IU vitamin A per kilogram, respectively. After an additional 4 weeks, groups of rats on each dietary regimen were started on one of four different promoter treatments: 0.07 micrograms TCDD/kg/week (sc); 0.7 micrograms TCDD/kg/week (sc); 500 ppm phenobarbital in the drinking water or vehicle only (arachis oil, sc). The study was terminated after 16 weeks of promoter treatment. Sections of liver were stained for gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT) activity and GGT-positive altered hepatic foci (AHF) were evaluated by stereological methods. All factors studied (TCDD, phenobarbital, dietary vitamin A content, and the type of diet) were shown to influence AHF development significantly. As expected, TCDD and phenobarbital enhanced foci development. Vitamin A deficiency enhanced foci development in its own right and increased the TCDD-induced response markedly. Dietary vitamin A content did not modulate phenobarbital promotion of AHF in the same manner. The enhancement of TCDD-induced effects on foci development by vitamin A deprivation was accompanied by an increased incidence of histological changes marking degeneration in the liver (e.g., oval cell hyperplasia) and accentuation of other TCDD-related toxic responses. In addition, the groups of rats maintained on the cereal-based diets and subjected to the various promoter/vitamin A regimens exhibited significantly higher AHF incidence as compared to correspondingly treated rats fed the purified, casein-based diets. In conclusion, vitamin A deficiency alone may promote hepatocarcinogenesis and enhance the promoting effect of TCDD treatment. However, TCDD-induced depletion of hepatic vitamin A stores was not implicated as a major cause of promotion by TCDD. Nevertheless, vitamin A deficiency brought about by TCDD alone may well act as a promotive stimulus concertedly with an as yet unidentified cellular mechanism in TCDD-induced liver tumor promotion. The differential effects of the two types of diets recorded in the study remain undocumented.

Effects of vitamin A on cyclophosphamide mutagenicity in vitro (Ames test) and in vivo (mouse micronucleus test)

The effect of vitamin A on cyclophosphamide mutagenicity was measured both in vitro and in vivo. In the Ames test in Salmonella typhimurium TA1535 with mouse-liver S-9 mix, the addition of retinol, retinyl acetate or retinyl palmitate caused a dose-dependent inhibition of cyclophosphamide mutagenicity. In the micronucleus test in male NMRI mice fed low, normal or high levels of vitamin A, the induction of micronuclei in bone marrow by an ip dose of cyclophosphamide was unaffected by vitamin A status. Thus, this study provides no evidence that activation of a procarcinogen in the liver or bone marrow of mice can be modified by vitamin A. One of the possible reasons for the observed absence of inhibition by vitamin A in vivo may be a lack of correlation between the oral dose of retinoid and the resulting level of vitamin A in the bone marrow. The difference between results in vitro and in vivo may also have been due to a difference in the availability and potency of added vitamin A in vitro compared with the forms absorbed and stored in vivo.

Retinol (vitamin A) as a modifier of 2-aminofluorene and 2-acetyl-aminofluorene mutagenesis in the Salmonella/microsome assay.

Vitamin A (retinol) has been demonstrated to modify the mutagenic activity of the aromatic amines, 2-aminofluorene (2AF) and 2-acetylaminofluorene (2AAF) when added to the Ames Salmonella/mammalian microsome assay. Low amounts of retinol (2–20 μg/plate) increased the mutagenicity of both 2AF and 2AAF. At higher doses (50–150 μg/plates) the mutagenicity of 2AAF remained unchanged while the mutagenicity of 2AF gradually decreased.The present data do not support the hypothesis that retinol generally acts as an inhibitor of in vitro metabolic activation of procarcinogens.

Genotoxic activity of 1,3-butadiene and nitrogen dioxide and their photochemical reaction products in Drosophila and in the mouse bone marrow micronucleus assay

The genotoxic activity of a photochemical reaction mixture of 1,3-butadiene and nitrogen dioxide was investigated in vivo in the mouse bone marrow micronucleus assay and the somatic mutation and recombination test in Drosophila (the wing spot test). Butadiene alone was not mutagenic in Drosophila, but induced micronuclei in mice at 10 ppm after 23 h of exposure. Nitrogen dioxide was not genotoxic in either test system. The photochemical reaction products were toxic but probably not mutagenic in Drosophila and not genotoxic in mouse bone marrow. The in vivo results do not confirm earlier in vitro results that demonstrated a strong direct-acting mutagenic activity of the photochemical products in Salmonella.

Probabilistic acute dietary exposure assessments to captan and tolylfluanid using several European food consumption and pesticide concentration databases.

Probabilistic dietary acute exposure assessments of captan and tolylfluanid were performed for the populations of the Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden. The basis for these assessments was national databases for food consumption and pesticide concentration data harmonised at the level of raw agricultural commodity. Data were obtained from national food consumption surveys and national monitoring programmes and organised in an electronic platform of databases connected to probabilistic software. The exposure assessments were conducted by linking national food consumption data either (1) to national pesticide concentration data or (2) to a pooled database containing all national pesticide concentration data. We show that with this tool national exposure assessments can be performed in a harmonised way and that pesticide concentrations of other countries can be linked to national food consumption surveys. In this way it is possible to exchange or merge concentration data between countries in situations of data scarcity. This electronic platform in connection with probabilistic software can be seen as a prototype of a data warehouse, including a harmonised approach for dietary exposure modelling.

Probabilistic modelling of exposure doses and implications for health risk characterization: Glycoalkaloids from potatoes

Potatoes are a source of glycoalkaloids (GAs) represented primarily by alpha-solanine and alpha-chaconine (about 95%). Content of GAs in tubers is usually 10-100 mg/kg and maximum levels do not exceed 200 mg/kg. GAs can be hazardous for human health. Poisoning involve gastrointestinal ailments and neurological symptoms. A single intake of >1-3 mg/kg b.w. is considered a critical effect dose (CED). Probabilistic modelling of acute and chronic (usual) exposure to GAs was performed in the Czech Republic, Sweden and The Netherlands. National databases on individual consumption of foods, data on concentration of GAs in tubers (439 Czech and Swedish results) and processing factors were used for modelling. Results concluded that potatoes currently available at the European market may lead to acute intakes >1 mg GAs/kg b.w./day for upper tail of the intake distribution (0.01% of population) in all three countries. 50 mg GAs/kg raw unpeeled tubers ensures that at least 99.99% of the population does not exceed the CED. Estimated chronic (usual) intake in participating countries was 0.25, 0.29 and 0.56 mg/kg b.w./day (97.5% upper confidence limit). It remains unclear if the incidence of GAs poisoning is underreported or if assumptions are the worst case for extremely sensitive persons.

Retinol (vitamin A) inhibits the mutagenicity of o-aminoazotoluene activated by liver microsomes from several species in the Ames test

Retinol (vitamin A) has earlier been shown to inhibit the mutagenicity of o-aminoazotoluene (OAAT) in the Salmonella/microsome assay when OAAT is activated with S9 from Sprague-Dawley rats. The results presented in this paper confirm this and also show that S9 from mice, hamsters and gerbils activates OAAT to mutagenic metabolites detected by Salmonella typhimurium TA100. However, S9 from rabbits is inactive. The S9 fraction from rabbits also shows a low aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH) activity. The AHH activity or protein content of the microsomal fraction cannot be used to predict the activating capacity of S9 from the other species. Retinol, added in vitro, inhibits the mutagenic effect of OAAT activated by mouse, gerbil or hamster S9. The strongest inhibition is observed with hamster S9 while the inhibition of mouse and gerbil S9 is lower but still higher than in the rat.