Moderating effects of plastic packaged food on association of urinary phthalate metabolites with emotional symptoms in Chinese adolescents

Moderating effects of plastic packaged food on association of urinary phthalate metabolites with emotional symptoms in Chinese adolescents

Highlight：研究调节模型结果表明，塑料包装食品消费在一定程度上缓和了邻苯二甲酸盐暴露与青少年情绪症状的纵向关联。

Abstract

Previous research reports that diet is the main source of phthalate exposure to adolescents, and phthalate is associated with adolescent mental and behavioral problems. However, no study has explored the moderating effects of eating behavior in this association. This study aimed to analyze the moderating effects of plastic packaged food consumption in the longitudinal association between phthalate metabolite concentration and emotional symptoms in adolescents. This school-based survey was carried out among adolescents in two Chinese provinces. We conducted a baseline and follow-up surveys for 893 freshmen using the purposive sampling method from December 2018 to November 2019. We used food frequency questionnaire to assess eating behavior. The Chinese version of 21-item Depression Anxiety Stress Scales was used to assess emotional symptoms, and high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was used to analyze the concentration of six urine phthalate metabolites. The results of latent moderation model indicated that plastic packaged food consumption moderated the association of low molecular weight phthalate (LMWP) with depressive symptoms (β = 0.27, P = 0.002), anxiety symptoms (β = 0.89, P < 0.01), and stress symptoms (β = 0.23, P = 0.019). The moderating effects were significant at the higher scores (β = 0.14-0.35, P < 0.05) and/or the lower scores (β = -0.35 to -0.12, P < 0.05) of plastic packaged food consumption. The results suggest that plastic packaged food consumption to some extent moderates the longitudinal association of phthalate exposure with emotional symptoms in adolescents.

Honglv Xu, Jie Sheng, Xiaoyan Wu, Kai Zhan, Shuman Tao, Xing Wen, Wenwen Liu, Obed Cudjoe, Fangbiao Tao*. Moderating effects of plastic packaged food on association of urinary phthalate metabolites with emotional symptoms in Chinese adolescents. Ecotoxicol Environ Saf, 2021, 216:112171.