Exposure to food contaminants during pregnancy.

During pregnancy, the fetus is exposed to contaminants from its mother's diet. This work provides an assessment of the dietary exposure of pregnant women to inorganic contaminants (aluminum, mercury, lead, inorganic arsenic, cobalt), polychlorodibenzodioxins, polychlorodibenzofurans, dioxin-like and non-dioxin-like polychlorobiphenyls (DL-PCBs, NDL-PCBs), polybromodiphenyl ethers (PBDEs), perfluoroalkyl acids, mycotoxins (zearalenone, patulin, trichothecenes), and heat-generated compounds (acrylamide and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons). Consumption data of 2002 pregnant women aged 18 to 45 from the EDEN cohort study were combined with contamination data from the second French total diet study to assess the exposure before pregnancy (n=1861) and during the third trimester of pregnancy (n=1775).