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BACKGROUND: Nutritional quality, and health and climate impacts are important considerations in the design of sustainable diets. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the association between diets varying in nutrient density and climate impact and MI and stroke HRs. METHODS: Dietary data of 41,194 women and 39,141 men (35-65 y) who participated in a Swedish population-based cohort study were employed. Nutrient density was calculated using the Sweden-adapted Nutrient Rich Foods 11.3 index. Dietary climate impact was calculated with data from life cycle assessments, including greenhouse gas emissions from primary production to industry gate. HRs and 95% CIs for MI and stroke were assessed with multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression, comparing a least-desirable diet scenario reference group (lower nutrient density, higher climate impact) with three diet groups that varied with respect to higher/lower nutrient density and higher/lower climate impact. RESULTS: Median follow-up time from the baseline study visit to MI or stroke diagnosis was 15.7 y for women and 12.8 y for men. The MI hazard was significantly higher for the men with diets of lower nutrient density and lower climate impact (HR: 1.19; 95% CI: 1.06, 1.33; P = 0.004), compared with the reference group. No significant association with MI was observed for any of the diet groups of women. No significant association with stroke was observed among any of the diet groups of women or men. CONCLUSIONS: The results among men suggest some adverse health effects for men when diet quality is not considered in the pursuit of more climate-sustainable diets. For women, no significant associations were detected. The mechanism underlying this association for men needs further investigation.

Objective: To assess the associations between adherence to the Swedish dietary guidelines and all-cause mortality and thus assessing the index' ability to predict health outcomes, as well as levels of dietary greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs). Design: A longitudinal study 1990-2016 within the population-based cohort Västerbotten Intervention Programme. Dietary data were based on food frequency questionnaires. Diet quality was assessed by the Swedish Healthy Eating Index for Adults 2015 (SHEIA15), based on the 2015 Swedish dietary guidelines. Dietary GHGEs were estimated from life cycle assessment data including emissions from farm to industry gate. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of all-cause mortality were evaluated with Cox proportional hazards regression, and differences in median GHGEs were tested using the Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA test, between quintiles of SHEIA15 score. Setting: Northern Sweden. Participants: In total, 49,124 women and 47,651 men, aged 35-65 years. Results: Median follow-up times were 16.0 years for women and 14.7 years for men, during which time 3074 women and 4212 men died. A consistent trend of lower all-cause mortality HRs for both sexes with higher SHEIA15 scores was demonstrated. For women, the all-cause mortality HR was 0.81 [(95% CI 0.71-0.92); p=0.001] and for men 0.90 [(95% CI 0.81-0.996); p=0.041] between the quintile with the highest SHEIA15 score compared with the quintile with the lowest SHEIA15 score. A consistent trend of lower estimated dietary GHGEs among both sexes with higher SHEIA15 scores was also found. Conclusions: Adherence to Swedish dietary guidelines, estimated by SHEIA15, seems to promote longevity and reduce dietary climate impact.

I detta uppdrag undersöker vi kemiska tillsatser i plaster som försvårar eller utgör hinder för återvinning av materialet. I denna rapport avser kemiska tillsatser additiv som medvetet introducerats i produkten eller materialet, och det är dessa kemiska ämnens natur som avgör problematiken ur återvinningssynpunkt. Vi fokuserar på byggsektorn eftersom denna sektor använder stora mängder plast av hög kvalité. Trots detta är återvinningsgraden för plast låg och potentialen att öka återvinningsgraden är därmed stor. Ett materials potential för återvinning bestäms av flera faktorer, varav kemikalieinnehåll är en. Det är viktigt att tänka på vilken eller vilka produkter plasten är lämplig att återvinnas till, och hänsyn måste alltid tas till gällande kemikalielagstiftning för just de produkttyperna. Kemiska ämnen som kan vara skadliga för människan och/eller miljön är särskilt viktiga att utreda, men det finns också andra tillsatser i material och produkter som försvårar återvinningsprocessen eller påverkar kvalitén på den återvunna plasten negativt så att marknaden för det återvunna materialet blir begränsad. Ytterligare en faktor att ta i beaktande är hur exponeringen för kemikalierna ser ut, om de är bundna i plasten eller kan emitteras och utsätta människor och miljön för direkta risker. De stora kategorierna i denna kartläggning har varit golv, rör och rördelar, kablar, profiler och lister, isoleringsmaterial, samt tätningsskikt. För dessa produktgrupper dominerar polymertyperna PVC, PE av olika densitetsgrad och comonomer-innehåll, PP (homo- och copolymer), PS och PUR. Då härdplaster, där även PUR ingår, förekommer i form av lacker, adhesiv och ytbeläggningar i byggprodukter behandlas dessa också övergripande. Många materialströmmar finns tillgängliga för återvinning inom kategorin byggplast generellt sett, men möjligheterna och incitamenten att sortera ut dessa i sina ursprungliga fraktioner är låg. Detta beror antingen på att efterfrågan på mekaniskt återvunnet ma, I Kemikalieinspektionens regleringsbrev för 2022 fick vi ett uppdrag att ”utreda vilka ämnen som hindrar eller är problematiska för att plast, skummad plast och plastliknande material ska kunna återvinnas”. Uppdraget var ett deluppdrag inom uppdraget ”Giftfritt från början” som hade inriktningen ”att stärka arbetet för en giftfri cirkulär ekonomi i Sverige, inom EU och globalt genom särskilda insatser så att produkter och varor är giftfria från början”.

Chlorinated paraffins (CPs) were analyzed in marine wildlife from Greenland, Iceland, and the Swedish west coast. CPs up to C-29 were detected in the samples from the Arctic, indicating long-range transport of an industrial chemical group with a 2-million-ton annual production volume. CP concentrations were generally higher in biota from the Swedish west coast. The Sweden/Arctic concentration ratios for very-short-chain (vSCCPs, C-<10), short-chain (SCCPs, C10-13), medium-chain (MCCPs, C14-17), and long-chain CPs (LCCPs, C->17) in cetacean and bivalve species were in the range of 3.6-150, 5-29, 3-11, and 11-450, respectively. For the first time, fetal accumulation of four CP classes was found, whereby concentrations were 3.4 to 4.5 times lower in the fetus relative to the pregnant female minke whale. Cetacean blubber contained a higher proportion of higher chlorinated CPs compared to muscle tissue, while muscle contained higher lipid-normalized concentrations of longer chain CPs than blubber tissue. LCCPs predominated (52% of total CPs) in the muscle of a killer whale from Swedish waters, which is the first report where concentrations of LCCPs surpassed those of other CPs in marine mammals. This study shows that, like other CP classes, LCCPs are Arctic contaminants that may adversely affect biota in this remote region.

BACKGROUND: Diets combining adequate nutritional quality and low climate impact are highly needed for human and planet health. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to 1) evaluate nutrient density indexes' ability to predict mortality, and 2) assess the effects of diets varying in nutrient density and climate impact on total mortality. METHODS: Dietary data from 49,124 women and 47,651 men aged 35-65 y in the population-based prospective study Västerbotten Intervention Programme (Sweden) were used. Greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs) were estimated using data from life cycle assessments. Fifteen variants of nutrient density indexes were evaluated and the index that best predicted mortality was used to estimate participants' nutrient density. GHGEs and nutrient density were adjusted for energy intakes. Total mortality risk was estimated by Cox proportional hazards models for 4 groups of women and men, respectively, i.e., higher nutrient density, lower climate impact (HNutr/LClim); higher nutrient density, higher climate impact (HNutr/HClim); lower nutrient density, lower climate impact (LNutr/LClim); and lower nutrient density, higher climate impact (LNutr/HClim-reference group). RESULTS: NRF11.3, a Sweden-adapted variant of the Nutrient Rich Foods index, was identified to have the best ability to predict mortality in the study population. Median follow-up times for women and men were 16.0 and 14.7 y, respectively. For women a significantly lower mortality risk was found for HNutr/LClim (HR: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.79, 0.96; P = 0.008) and HNutr/HClim (HR: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.78, 0.97; P = 0.011) than for LNutr/HClim. Among men LNutr/LClim had a significantly higher mortality risk (HR: 1.10; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.21; P = 0.033) than LNutr/HClim. CONCLUSIONS: Diets beneficial for both health and climate are feasible and associated with lower mortality risk in women. Further studies are needed to understand how men may transition into diets that are more sustainable from a combined health and climate persp

New methods for combined evaluation of nutritional and environmental aspects of food products are needed to enable a transformation of dietary guidelines integrating both health and environmental perspectives. We evaluated two sustainability aspects; nutrition and climate im-pact, of foods commonly consumed in Sweden and the implications of using parallel or integrated assessments of these two aspects, also discussing the usability and suitability of these food sustain-ability indicators in relation to Swedish dietary guidelines, industry food product development, and consumer communication. There were large differences in both nutrient density and climate impact among the different foods. The parallel assessment easily visualized synergies and trade-offs between these two sustainability aspects for the different foods. Coherence with dietary guidelines was good, and suitability and usability deemed satisfying. The integrated indicator showed better coherence with dietary guidelines than indicators based solely on nutrient density or climate impact; however, the difficulty to interpret the score limits its usability in product development and consumer communication. With both methods, advantageous as well as less advantageous plant-based and animal-based food alternatives were suggested. The two alternative methods evaluated could serve as useful tools to drive individual and societal development towards more sustainable food production and consumption.

Expressing the environmental impact of foods in relation to the nutritional quality is a promising approach in the search for methods integrating interdisciplinary sustainability perspectives. However, the lack of standardized methods regarding how to include nutrient metrics can lead to unharmonized results difficult to interpret. We evaluated nutrient density indexes by systematically assessing the role of methodological variables with the purpose of identifying the index able to rank foods with the highest coherence with the Swedish dietary guidelines. Among 45 variants of the nutrient density index NRF (Nutrient Rich Food), a Sweden-tailored NRF11.3 index, including 11 desirable nutrients and 3 undesirable nutrients, calculated per portion size or 100 kcal with the application of weighting, ranked foods most coherently with the guidelines. This index is suggested to be suitable as complementary functional unit (FU) in comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) studies across food categories. The results clarify implications of methodological choices when calculating nutrient density of foods and offer guidance to LCA researchers on which nutrition metric to use when integrating nutritional aspects in food LCA.

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine climate impact from diet across background and sociodemographic characteristics in a population-based cohort in northern Sweden. Design: A cross-sectional study within the Västerbotten Intervention Programme. Dietary data from a 64-item food frequency questionnaire collected during 1996–2016 were used. Energy-adjusted greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) for all participants, expressed as kg carbon dioxide equivalents/day and 4184 kJ (1000 kcal), were estimated using data from life cycle analyses. Differences in background and sociodemographic characteristics were examined between participants with low and high GHGE from diet, respectively. The variables evaluated were age, BMI, physical activity, marital status, level of education, smoking, and residence. Setting: Västerbotten county in northern Sweden. Participants: In total, 46 893 women and 45 766 men aged 29–65 years. Results: Differences in GHGE from diet were found across the majority of examined variables. The strongest associations were found between GHGE from diet and age, BMI, education, and residence (all P < 0·001), with the highest GHGE from diet found among women and men who were younger, had a higher BMI, higher educational level, and lived in urban areas. Conclusions: This study is one of the first to examine climate impact from diet across background and sociodemographic characteristics. The results show that climate impact from diet is associated with age, BMI, residence and educational level amongst men and women in Västerbotten, Sweden. These results define potential target populations where public health interventions addressing a move towards more climate-friendly food choices and reduced climate impact from diet could be most effective.

Taihu Lake area is one of the densest metropolitan areas in the world including diverse industrial activity. In the present study, the snail (Bellamya aeruginosa) and sediment were collected from the Taihu Lake area to investigate the contamination status, congener pattern, spatial distribution, and bioaccumulation effect of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). The samples underwent liquid extraction, lipid removal by sulfuric acid, and acidic silica gel column, and subsequently analyzed by gas chromatography-electron capture detector (GC-ECD) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Concentration of S22PCBs ranged between 90 and 680 ng g(-1) lipid weight in the snails and between 0.018 and 0.82 ng g(-1) dry weight in the sediments. Concentration of S24PBDEs varied from 25 to 200 ng g(-1) lipid weight in the snails and from 0.62 to 67 ng g(-1) dry weight in the sediments. The levels of PCBs and PBDEs observed were in the medium to low range compared with other studies in the world. CB-153 was the predominant PCB congener in both snails and sediments whereas BDE-209 showed a low bioavailability in the snails, even if it contributed up to 70% of S24PBDEs in the sediments. The spatial distribution showed that the highest concentration of PCBs and PBDEs were detected in samples from Zhushan Lake. East Taihu Lake and Dianshan Lake showed lower concentration of PCBs and PBDEs than the other sampling sites. Biota-sediment accumulation was found between snails and sediments of most of PCB and PBDE congeners except for the highly brominated BDEs (i.e., BDE-209). Therefore, sediment is suggested to be an appropriate matrix to monitor BDE-209 while aquatic species such as the snail could be good for monitoring of PCBs and lower brominated BDE congeners. No significant correlation (Spearman correlation test, two-tailed) of CB-153 (r = 0.54, p = 0.27) or BDE-47 (r = 0.60, p = 0.21) was found between snails and sediments.

Background: Chlorinated paraffins (CPs, polychlorinated n-alkanes) are versatile, high-production-volume chemicals. A previous study indicated that hand blenders leak CPs into prepared food. & para;& para;Objectives: (1) to estimate exposure to CPs from hand blender use compared to background CP exposure from diet; (2) to assess the risk from human dietary exposure to CPs from hand blender use; (3) to investigate how hand blenders leak out CPs. & para;& para;Methods: CPs were analyzed in food market baskets, in cooking oil/water samples (1 g oil/100 mL water) mixed using 16 different hand blenders, and in dismantled components of the hand blenders. & para;& para;Results: Dietary intake of CPs from food market baskets was calculated to be 4.6 mu g/day per capita for Swedish adults. Total CP amounts in oil/water leakage samples ranged from < 0.09 to 120 mu g using the hand blenders once. CP leakage showed no decreasing levels after 20 times of hand blender usage. CP profiles in the leakage samples matched those of self-lubricating bearings and/or polymer components disassembled from the hand blenders. & para;& para;Conclusions: Usage of 75% of the hand blenders tested will lead to increased human exposure to CPs. The intake of CPs for Swedish adults by using hand blenders once a day can raise their daily dietary intake by a factor of up to 26. The 95th percentile intake of CPs via using the hand blenders once a day exceeded the TDI for Swedish infants with a body weight < 7.2 kg. CP leakage came from blender components which contain CPs. The leakage may last several hundred times of hand blender use.

We studied the fate of the brominated flame retardant hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD) added in a particulate suspension to experimental ecosystems assembled from brackish (Baltic Sea) coastal bays. Two experiments examined how A) benthic macrofauna (over 21 d), and B) increased temperature (14 d), affected HBCDD concentrations and fractionation of α, β and γ diastereomers in the water, sediment and biota. A third experiment (C) run over three seasons (231 d), studied the effect of HBCDD dose on the same endpoints. In all treatments of the three experiments, HBCDD partitioned mainly to the sediment, and this proportion increased with time. Presence of macrofauna tended to increase the HBCDD concentration in the sediment and decreased its concentration in the water. Increased temperature (+5 °C) decreased the amount of HBCDD in sediment and water but not in the filter- and deposit-feeding infaunal bivalves (Macoma balthica). The partitioning between water, sediment and biota was not concentration dependent. In all treatments, sediment became enriched in γ-HBCDD, M. balthica in α-HBCDD and water in α- and β-HBCDD. Bioaccumulation of HBCDD in M. balthica was high in all experiments (logBSAF > 1.25), the α diastereomer contributing the most (logBSAF 2.1 to 5.2). There is a risk of trophic transfer of HBCDD from benthic to pelagic food webs, and secondary poisoning of marine consumers. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Non-dioxin-like (NDL) polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and their hydroxyl metabolites (OH-PCBs) are ubiquitous environmental contaminants in human tissues and blood. The toxicological impact of these metabolites is poorly understood. In this study rats were exposed to ultrapure PCB180 (10-1000 mg/kg bw) for 28 days and induction of genotoxic stress in liver was investigated. DNA damage signaling proteins (pChk1Ser317 and gamma H2AXSer319) were increased dose dependently in female rats. This increase was paralleled by increasing levels of the metabolite 3'-OH-PCB180. pChk1 was the most sensitive marker. In in vitro studies HepG2 cells were exposed to 1 mu M of PCB180 and 3'-OH-PCB180 or the positive control benzo[a]pyrene (BaP, 5 mu M). 3'-OH-PCB180, but not PCB180, induced CYP1A1 mRNA and gamma H2AX. CYP1A1 mRNA induction was seen at 1 h, and gamma H2AX at 3 h. The anti-oxidant N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine (NAC) completely prevented, and 17 beta-estradiol amplified the gamma H2AX induction by 3'-OH-PCB180. As 3'-OH-PCB180 induced CYP1A1, a major BaP-metabolizing and activating enzyme, interactions between 3'-OH-PCB180 and BaP was also studied. The metabolite amplified the DNA damage signaling response to BaP. In conclusion, metabolism of PCB180 to its hydroxyl metabolite and the subsequent induction of CYP1A1 seem important for DNA damage induced by PCB180 in vivo. Amplification of the response with estradiol may explain why DNA damage was only seen in female rats.

Utländska studier gör gällande att depersonalisationssyndrom (DPD) är lika vanligt som bipolär sjukdom eller tvångssyndrom. Trots detta betraktas DPD som ett ovanligt tillstånd inom psykiatrin. Det anses inte vara en självständig diagnos, utan endast symtom vid andra störningar. Depersonalisationssyndrom uppges därför av forskare vara en av den moderna tidens mest förbisedda diagnoser. Ingen svensk studie har tidigare genomförts för att kartlägga DPD. En enkätstudie genomfördes för att undersöka om depersonalisationssyndrom är underdiagnostiserat inom vuxen allmänpsykiatri i Sverige. Studien ämnade undersöka dels förekomst av depersonalisationssyndrom bland patienter, dels kunskapsläget om och inställningen till DPD hos psykologer och psykiatrer som arbetar på mottagningarna. 468 patienter och 146 behandlare deltog i studien. Resultatet visade att 39% av de deltagande patienterna uppfyllde kriterierna för DPD. Av samtliga patienter uppgav 1 patient (0,2 %) diagnosen DPD. Resultatet visade också att hälften av behandlarna ansåg att de hade obefintlig eller liten kunskap om DPD. 99 % av behandlarna uppgav att de aldrig eller sällan satte diagnosen. Slutsatsen är att depersonalisationssyndrom är underdiagnostiserat även inom svensk psykiatri, och att DPD som diagnos bör uppmärksammas så att patienter som befinner sig i tillståndet får rätt behandling., Studies claim that depersonalization disorder (DPD) is just as common as bipolar disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder. DPD is, despite this fact, seen as a rare condition within psychiatry, and not considered to be a diagnosis on its own. Instead it´s just regarded as symptoms that accompanies other psychiatric conditions. For that reason scientists claim that depersonalization disorder is one of the most neglected diagnoses of modern times. No other Swedish study has been made before to investigate the issues of DPD. A survey was therefore conducted to examine whether depersonalization disorder is under-diagnosed within outpatient psychiatric care for adults in Sweden. The survey investigated on one side the prevalence of depersonalization disorder among patients, on the other side the knowledge about and the attitude towards DPD among psychologists and psychiatrists working at the clinics. 468 patients and 146 clinicians completed the survey. The results show that case level of DPD was found in 39 % of the patients. Of all patients only one (0,2 %) was diagnosed with DPD. The results show that half of the clinicians considered themselves to have none or little knowledge about DPD. 99 % of them stated that they never or seldom used the diagnosis. Our results suggest that depersonalization disorder is an under-diagnosed condition also within Swedish psychiatry, and that DPD as a diagnosis should be payed attention to, so patients who suffer from the condition can receive proper treatment.

The use of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in aircraft is the result of high fire safety demands. Personnel working in or with aircraft might therefore be exposed to several BFRs. Previous studies have reported PBDE exposure in flight attendants and in passengers. One other group that may be subjected to significant BFR exposure via inhalation, are the aircraft maintenance workers. Personnel exposure both during flights and maintenance of aircraft, are investigated in the present study. Several BFRs were present in air and dust sampled during both the exposure scenarios; PBDEs, hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD), decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE) and 1,2-bis (2,4,6-tribromophenoxy) ethane. PBDEs were also analyzed in serum from pilots/cabin crew, maintenance workers and from a control group of individuals without any occupational aircraft exposure. Significantly higher concentrations of PBDEs were found in maintenance workers compared to pilots/cabin crew and control subjects with median total PBDE concentrations of 19, 6.8 and 6.6 pmol g(-1) lipids, respectively. Pilots and cabin crew had similar concentrations of most PBDEs as the control group, except for BDE-153 and BDE-154 which were significantly higher. Results indicate higher concentrations among some of the pilots compared to the cabin crew. It is however, evident that the cabin personnel have lower BFR exposures compared to maintenance workers that are exposed to such a degree that their blood levels are significantly different from the control group.