Potential Sources of Exposure and Urinary Bisphenol A Concentration in Children

Abstract

Introduction: Bisphenol A (BPA) is a synthetic compound used in the plastics and epoxy resins industry for manufacturing various consumer products including plastic baby bottle, toys and protective lining of infants’ food cans. Recent studies reports adverse effects of BPA on human health resulting in hormone abnormalities, obesity, asthma, cardiac, kidney and behavioral disorders. Aim: To measure urinary concentration, estimate daily intake of BPA in children, and investigate the association between urinary BPA levels and consumption frequency of dietary sources. Materials and Methods: The cross-sectional study included apparently healthy 292 children, aged 2-16 years. Urinary concentrations of BPA were measured using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Dietary intake and frequency of consumption of probable dietary sources of BPA were recorded using structured questionaire were assessed. ANOVA test was used to show the statistical difference between the estimated levels of urinary BPA and the frequency of consumption of the dietary sources. Student’s t-test was used to analyse statistical difference in daily intake of BPA amongst male and female children. p-value <0.05 was considered statistical significant. Results: BPA was detected in 215 (73.63%) children under study. The total urinary Bisphenol A ranged from 0.3 to 18.9 ng/mL with mean 1.29+2.09 ng/mL, median 0.67 and geometric mean 0.68 ng/mL. A significant positive association was observed between urinary BPA levels and frequently used canned soft drinks (p-value=0.014) and fast food (p-value=0.05). The geometric mean of estimated daily intake was 0.015 μg/kg/day, which is much lower than the tolerable daily intake. Estimated BPA intakes showed no significant difference between males and females (p-value=0.216). Conclusion: The consumption of canned soft drinks and fast food are the most common sources of exposure amongst children. The study reports minimal average daily intake of BPA and overall low exposure leading to the low urinary BPA concentration. However further studies are required to address other potential sources of BPA exposure in children.

Keywords

• bisphenol a
• daily intake
• egypt
• epidemiology
• paediatrics