Nutrition Research and Practice

The Korean Nutrition Society (한국영양학회)
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Association between food consumption and serum aryl hydrocarbon receptor ligand activity among middle-aged Korean adults

  • Kyungho Ha (Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Jeju National University) ;
  • Hoonsung Choi (Department of Internal Medicine, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine) ;
  • Youngmi Kim Pak (Department of Physiology, College of Medicine and Biomedical Science Institute, Core Research Institute(CRI), School of Medicine, Kyung Hee University) ;
  • Hong Kyu Lee (Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine) ;
  • Hyojee Joung (Department of Public Health, Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University)
  • Received : 2024.05.21
  • Accepted : 2024.08.05
  • Published : 2024.10.01
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Abstract

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The diet is an important route of exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). However, few studies have investigated the association between dietary intake and EDC exposure levels among Koreans. In an earlier study, we showed that the bioactivity of serum aryl hydrocarbon receptor ligands (AhRLs) could be a surrogate biomarker to indicate exposure to EDCs and that they inhibit mitochondrial function. We also found that the mitochondria-inhibiting substances (MIS) in serum ascertained by intracellular adenosine triphosphate (MIS-ATP) and reactive oxygen species (MIS-ROS) levels could be biomarkers of exposure to EDCs, as they showed a strong correlation with AhRL and the levels of EDCs in the blood. Here, we investigated the association between the consumption of specific foods and surrogate serum biomarkers for EDCs, namely AhRL, MIS-ATP, and MIS-ROS, among middle-aged Korean adults. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A total of 1,466 participants aged 45-76 yrs from the Ansung cohort of the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study were included. Food consumption, including that of meat, fish, vegetables, and fruits, was measured using a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire. RESULTS: Fish intake was positively associated with AhRL (β = 0.0035, P = 0.0166), whereas cruciferous vegetable intake was negatively associated with AhRL (β = -0.0007, P = 0.0488). Cruciferous vegetable intake was positively associated with the MIS-ATP levels (β = 0.0051, P = 0.0420). A higher intake of fish was significantly associated with an increased risk of high AhRL (tertile: odds ratio [OR], 1.49; 95% confidence intervals (CIs), 1.08-2.06; P for trend = 0.0305). In addition, the second-highest tertile of cruciferous vegetable intake had lower odds of high AhRL than the lowest tertile (OR, 0.73; 95% CIs, 0.54-0.97), although no significant linear trend was observed. CONCLUSION: Consumption of different types of foods may be differentially associated with EDC exposure in middle-aged Korean adults.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program (Core Research Institute Program 2018R1A6A1A03025124 and 2020R1A2C1008699 to Pak YK) through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), funded by the Korean government (MSIT) and Gyeokin Health Science to Joung H. The funding sources had no role in the collection of data or decision to submit this manuscript for publication.

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