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A margin of exposure approach to assessment of non-cancerous risk of diethyl phthalate based on human exposure from bottled water consumption

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Abstract

Phthalates may be present in food due to their widespread presence as environmental contaminants or due to migration from food contact materials. Exposure to phthalates is considered to be potentially harmful to human health as well. Therefore, determining the main source of exposure is an important issue. So, the purpose of this study was (1) to measure the release of diethyl phthalate (DEP) in bottled water consumed in common storage conditions specially low temperature and freezing conditions; (2) to evaluate the intake of DEP from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottled water and health risk assessment; and (3) to assess the contribution of the bottled water to the DEP intake against the tolerable daily intake (TDI) values. DEP migration was investigated in six brands of PET-bottled water under different storage conditions room temperature, refrigerator temperature, freezing conditions (40 °C ,0 °C and −18 °C) and outdoor] at various time intervals by magnetic solid extraction (MSPE) using gas chromatography–mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). Eventually, a health risk assessment was conducted and the margin of exposure (MOE) was calculated. The results indicate that contact time with packaging and storage temperatures caused DEP to be released into water from PET bottles. But, when comprising the DEP concentration with initial level, the results demonstrated that the release of phthalates were not substantial in all storage conditions especially at low temperatures (<25 °C) and freezing conditions. The daily intake of DEP from bottled water was much lower than the reference value. However, the lowest MOE was estimated for high water consumers (preschooler > children > lactating women > teenagers > adults > pregnant women), but in all target groups, the MOE was much higher than 1000, thus, low risk is implied. Consequently, PET-bottled water is not a major source of human exposure to DEP and from this perspective is safe for consumption.

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Acknowledgments

This research has been supported by Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) and Health Services grant (project no. 90-02-46-14580). Hereby, the cooperation of the University, School of Public Health and also the Institute for Environmental Research (IER) is highly appreciated.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Pour sina St., Enqelab Sq., Tehran, 1417653761, Iran

    Maryam Zare Jeddi, Masud Yunesian & Ramin Nabizadeh

  2. Center for water qualities Research (CWQR), Institute for Environmental Research (IER), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Maryam Zare Jeddi

  3. Center for Air Pollution Research (CAPR), Institute for Environmental Research (IER), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Noushin Rastkari & Masud Yunesian

  4. Department of Human Ecology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Reza Ahmadkhaniha

  5. Department of Clinical Nutrition, School of Nutritional Science & Dietetics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Reza Daryabeygi

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  1. Maryam Zare Jeddi
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  2. Noushin Rastkari
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  3. Reza Ahmadkhaniha
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Correspondence to Masud Yunesian.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

Chemical compounds studied in this article

Diethyl phthalate (Pub Chem CID: 6781).

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Zare Jeddi, M., Rastkari, N., Ahmadkhaniha, R. et al. A margin of exposure approach to assessment of non-cancerous risk of diethyl phthalate based on human exposure from bottled water consumption. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 19518–19528 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-5076-4

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