Halogenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (HPAHs) are persistent contaminants with elevated toxicity, yet dietary exposure data remain limited. Here, we systematically assessed dietary HPAHs using 87 duplicate diet samples collected from populations living in and around a coking industrial area by applying the duplicate diet method, a gold-standard approach that provides precise individual-level exposure information. Thirty-one HPAHs were detected, including seven previously unreported congeners, with mean concentrations of 62.51, 33.68, and 16.52 ng/g in the coking plant, nearby residential, and control areas, respectively. Lipid-rich foods, particularly meats, exhibited the highest HPAH burdens, and thermal processing approximately doubled concentrations in meals collected from the coking plant area. Dietary cancer risk was evaluated using a toxicity equivalency-based incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) framework. Although several HPAHs occurred at low concentrations, congeners with high relative effect potency contributed disproportionately to cumulative cancer risk. Population-level risk distributions revealed that 25.8% of dietary samples exceeded the benchmark ILCR threshold of 10−4 in the coking plant area. In silico toxicity predictions further indicated potential organ-specific toxicological relevance for the blood, liver, kidney, and cardiovascular systems, supporting the health relevance of dietary HPAH exposure. In general, these results suggest that industrial influence, food composition, and cooking practices jointly contribute to dietary HPAH exposure and toxicity-weighted cancer risk. Our findings highlight the importance of incorporating halogenated congeners into routine monitoring programs and health risk assessments in industrialized regions.
Gao et al. (Tue,) studied this question.