Assessment of dietary exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls

The present study provides information on the complex process of exposure assessment to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the general population in Southern Ontario. The main goal is to evaluate the relationship between diet assessed through a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire and the levels of PCBs in women. The dietary indexes include (1) information on specific food group consumption and (2) the estimated daily intake of PCBs from fatty foods through the creation of a data base linking two different sources of information: food consumption and the PCB concentration in the food. The levels of PCBs in women are evaluated in two ways: (1) as adipose tissue concentration of PCBs; and, (2) as the total body burden of PCBs, an index derived from the adipose tissue concentration.;The study population includes 198 women with benign breast disease who comprise the control group in a case-control study of breast cancer and the environment. Information on the adipose tissue concentration of PCB congeners was available from analyses on tissue routinely taken at breast biopsy. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...