Appendix D Food Codes for NHANES - OEHHA

Scientific Review PanelSRP Draft Version 2 February,June 2012
J.3.2 Oral Biotransfer of PAHs to Mother’s Milk
Diet is the largest contributor by pathway to total PAH intake from ubiquitous
background sources for the general public and other situations where airborne
levels are not remarkably high (Lioy et al., 1988). In a risk assessment of a
reference nonsmoking male, a mean total PAH intake of 3.12 µg/d was estimated
of which dietary intake was 96.2%, air 1.6%, water 0.2% and soil 0.4% (Menzie
et al., 1992; Ramesh et al., 2004). Inhalation, soil ingestion and homegrown
produce pathways can be important when considering total dose from a single
stationary source. PAHs contaminate homegrown produce and soil through direct
deposition. Milk and meat from home-raised animals or commercial sources
would be less of a contributor because many PAHs are highly metabolized by
these animals following intake from contaminated pastures and soil.
There are no studies available that relate PAH dietary intake directly to mother’s
milk concentrations for these compounds, although studies of PAH dietary intake
have been performed in several countries. Therefore, the PAH biotransfer
efficiency to mother’s milk from food was calculated using PAH dietary intake
data and mother’s milk PAH data from separate studies. OEHHA recognizes the
uncertainty in this approach but it appears to be the best currently available.
Table J.3-5 shows the daily dietary intake of carcinogenic PAHs from published
studies of European residents.
Regional preferences, ethnicity, and individual dietary preferences will influence
the amount of PAHs ingested with food. In addition, there were differences
among the intake studies in the number and type of PAHs investigated in foods.
Even though dietary habits and PAH analysis methods can result in different
levels of PAH intake, the total dietary intakes of PAHs in each of five studies in
Table J.3-5 were generally within an order of magnitude of each other.
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