The CATCH-UP project: The impact of pre- and postnatal exposure to mixtures of environmental toxicants on catch-up growth, obesity and cardio-metabolic health in children

Summary

The overall objective of the project is to study the potential effects of exposure to mixtures of toxicants during vulnerable life stages on child growth and weight status. The project will also take into account the interplay between exposure to contaminants and overall diet quality of the child on the association with growth and metabolic disorders.

Our specific objectives were first, to identify the mixtures of toxicants the fetus and the child are exposed to. Second, we aim to explore the associations between these exposures and growth, obesity and metabolic disorders. So far, we have identified three major mixtures of contaminants originating from food in Norwegian pregnant women. A "meat-contaminants pattern" described by high exposure to nitrites, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and perfluoroalkyl carboxylates

(PFCAs), a "fish-contaminants pattern" described by high exposure to arsenic, mercury, dioxin-like compounds and non-dioxin like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and a "vegetables-contaminants pattern" described by high exposure to cadmium, nitrates and benzo[a]pyrene. Furthermore, preliminary results show non-linear associations between prenatal exposure to mixtures of contaminants and child growth from fetal life to childhood.