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Soil ingestion rates for children under 3 years old in Taiwan

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 27, pages 33–40 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Soil and dust ingestion rates by children are among the most critical exposure factors in determining risks to children from exposures to environmental contaminants in soil and dust. We believe this is the first published soil ingestion study for children in Taiwan using tracer element methodology. In this study, 66 children under 3 years of age were enrolled from Taiwan. Three days of fecal samples and a 24-h duplicate food sample were collected. The soil and household dust samples were also collected from children’s homes. Soil ingestion rates were estimated based on silicon (Si) and titanium (Ti). The average soil ingestion rates were 9.6±19.2 mg/day based on Si as a tracer. The estimated soil ingestion rates based on Si did not have statistically significant differences by children’s age and gender, although the average soil ingestion rates clearly increased as a function of children’s age category. The estimated soil ingestion rates based on Si was significantly and positively correlated with the sum of indoor and outdoor hand-to-mouth frequency rates. The average soil ingestion rates based on Si were generally lower than the results from previous studies for the US children. Ti may not be a suitable tracer for estimating soil ingestion rates in Taiwan because the Ti dioxide is a common additive in food. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that investigated the correlations between soil ingestion rates and mouthing behaviors in Taiwan or other parts of Asia. It is also the first study that could compare available soil ingestion data from different countries and/or different cultures. The hand-to-mouth frequency and health habits are important to estimate the soil ingestion exposure for children. The results in this study are particularly important when assessing children’s exposure and potential health risk from nearby contaminated soils in Taiwan.

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Acknowledgements

This project was supported by the Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (project no. EPA-100-G101-03-A036 and EPA-101-GA101-02-A143). This article was reviewed in accordance with the policy of the National Exposure Research Laboratory, US Environmental Protection Agency and approved for publication. Approval does not signify that the contents necessarily reflect the view and policies of the agency.

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Author notes

  1. Halûk Özkaynak: Retired.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Ling-Chu Chien, Ming-Chien Tsou & Winston Dang

  2. Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Hsing-Cheng Hsi

  3. Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Paloma Beamer

  4. National Exposure Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (D205-05), Research Triangle Park, NC, USA

    Karen Bradham & Halûk Özkaynak

  5. Department of Agricultural Chemistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Zeng-Yei Hseu

  6. Department of Soil and Water Conservation, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung, Taiwan

    Shih-Hao Jien

  7. Department of Pediatrics, Taipei Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

    Chuen-Bin Jiang

  8. Mackay Junior College of Medicine, Nursing and Management, Taipei, Taiwan

    Chuen-Bin Jiang

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  1. Ling-Chu Chien
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Correspondence to Ling-Chu Chien.

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Chien, LC., Tsou, MC., Hsi, HC. et al. Soil ingestion rates for children under 3 years old in Taiwan. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 27, 33–40 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2015.61

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