Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Dec;215(Pt 1):114205.
doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.114205. Epub 2022 Aug 30.

Association between fish oil supplements use and serum per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS): Results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Manu Onteeru  1 , Lauren E Barnes  2 , Kelli O'Connell  3 , Jenna Bhimani  3 , Mengmeng Du  3 , Megan E Romano  4 , Elizabeth D Kantor  5
Affiliations

Association between fish oil supplements use and serum per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS): Results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Manu Onteeru et al. Environ Res. 2022 Dec.

Abstract

Background: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are widespread pollutants and classified as potentially carcinogenic to humans. Although consumption of fish, seafood, and their byproducts is a known source of dietary PFAS exposure, little is known about the association between use of fish oil supplements and PFAS. Here, we examine associations between fish oil supplement use and serum PFAS concentrations.

Methods: This analysis includes adults, ages 25 years of age and older, surveyed as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examinations Survey (NHANES). Outcomes include five serum PFAS compounds: perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), perfluorohexane sulphonic acid (PFHxS) and perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA). To determine the association between fish oil use and log-transformed PFAS concentrations, survey-weighted linear regression was used to estimate multivariate-adjusted ratios between supplement-users' and non-users' geometric mean serum PFAS concentrations.

Results: No association was observed between fish oil use and PFAS. While results did not vary substantially by age, gender, study cycle, there was some indication of a potential inverse association in subgroups of interest. Specifically, an inverse association was observed between fish oil supplement use and PFOS levels in older adults, females, and in early calendar years; an inverse association was also observed between fish oil and PFNA in females and early calendar years.

Conclusions: While fish oil users did not experience increased serum PFAS, there was an unexpected inverse association in some population subgroups. Further research will be needed to better understand whether this pattern reflects true differences, chance, or bias.

Keywords: Dietary supplements; Environmental health; Fish oil; NHANES; PFAS.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Sunderland EM et al. A review of the pathways of human exposure to poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and present understanding of health effects. J. Expo. Sci. Environ. Epidemiol. 29, 131–147 (2019). - PMC - PubMed
    1. Death C et al. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in livestock and game species: A review. Sci. Total Environ. 774, 144795 (2021). - PubMed
    1. Sznajder-Katarzyńska K A Review of Perfluoroalkyl Acids (PFAAs) in terms of Sources, Applications, Human Exposure, Dietary Intake, Toxicity, Legal Regulation, and Methods of Determination. https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jchem/2019/2717528/.
    1. Bjorke-Monsen A-L, Varsi K, Averina M, Brox J & Huber S Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and mercury in never-pregnant women of fertile age: association with fish consumption and unfavorable lipid profile. BMJ Nutr. Prev. Health bmjnph (2020) doi:10.1136/bmjnph-2020-000131. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bell EM et al. Exposure, health effects, sensing, and remediation of the emerging PFAS contaminants – Scientific challenges and potential research directions. Sci. Total Environ. 780, 146399 (2021). - PubMed

Publication types