Search

We evaluated the co-occurrence of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), and lead (Pb) in 10 categories of processed foods intended for infants and young children (<2 years old) and adapted methodology to characterise and evaluate the impact of correlations on toxic element (TE) concentrations in these foods. Co-occurrence was assessed by calculating the frequency of samples having concentrations above the limit of detection (LOD) among TE sets (i.e. As-Cd, As-Pb, Cd-Pb, and As-Cd-Pb). Pairwise correlations were evaluated using two statistical approaches adapted to censored data: (i) non-parametric Kendall's tau and (ii) parametric Bayesian modelling. Nonparametric and parametric correlation analyses showed similar results. We found positive correlations among one or more pairs of the TEs (As, Pb, and Cd) in 9 of the 10 categories of foods intended for infants and young children and a negative correlation for one TE pair for a single food category. Where positive correlations are observed, removing samples with high concentrations of a given TE reduces the mean of the other TEs in that food. We also explored the impact of correlations among TEs on the fraction of the supply below maximum levels. Positive correlations among TEs have the potential to reduce the impact on the supply when setting multiple maximum levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dietary exposure to a food chemical (e.g. contaminant, nutrient, or other natural constituent) is a function of the concentration of the chemical in foods and the quantity of each food consumed. Exposures to food chemicals can be estimated using intake data from What We Eat in America (WWEIA), the food consumption survey portion of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). To estimate exposures to chemicals in foods consumed by NHANES/WWEIA respondents, the consumption data must be mapped to chemical concentration data on the same or similar foods. However, food chemical data are generally not available on all the foods and food mixtures that are reported in NHANES/WWEIA. To address this, we developed the FDA Food Disaggregation Database (FDA-FDD), a 'recipe' database with estimates of ingredient percentages. FDA-FDD allows mapping to food chemical data based on ingredients in NHANES/WWEIA foods rather than on food mixtures, resulting in more accurate exposure estimates. Using FDA-FDD, FDA mapped over 11,000 NHANES/WWEIA foods to FDA's Total Diet Study (TDS) foods. FDA-FDD is available as part of a publicly available interactive application that also allows access to the TDS mapping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Binge drinking is a leading cause of preventable death and results in employee absenteeism and lost productivity. Knowledge about the prevalence of binge drinking among employees of different occupations is limited., Methods: We assessed the prevalence of binge drinking (i.e., consuming five or more drinks per occasion during the previous 30 days) by primary occupation using data from the 2004-2005 North Dakota Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. We used logistic regression to assess the association between binge drinking and primary occupation., Results: Overall, 24.1% (95% confidence interval [CI], 22.5-25.7) of North Dakota workers reported binge drinking. The prevalence was highest among farm or ranch employees (45.3%; 95% CI, 28.3-63.4), food or drink servers (33.4%; 95% CI, 23.9-44.4), and farm or ranch owners (32.5%; 95% CI, 26.3-39.4). The prevalence was lowest among health care workers (13.2%; 95% CI, 10.3-16.8). Compared with health care workers, the adjusted odds of binge drinking were highest among farm or ranch employees (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 2.2; 95% CI, 0.9-5.5), food or drink servers (AOR, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.1-4.0), and farm or ranch owners (AOR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.1-2.6). Health insurance coverage was lowest among employees in occupations with the highest prevalence of binge drinking., Conclusion: We found occupational differences in the prevalence of binge drinking among employees in North Dakota. Many occupational categories had a high prevalence of binge drinking. We recommend the implementation of both employer-sponsored and population-based interventions to reduce binge drinking among North Dakota workers, particularly because employees in occupations with the highest rates of binge drinking had the lowest rates of health insurance coverage.