University of Kentucky Superfund Research Program, Lexington, Kentucky 40536, USA.
Environ Health Perspect. 2012 Jun;120(6):771-4. doi: 10.1289/ehp.1104712. Epub 2012 Feb 22.
The paradigm of human risk assessment includes many variables that must be viewed collectively in order to improve human health and prevent chronic disease. The pathology of chronic diseases is complex, however, and may be influenced by exposure to environmental pollutants, a sedentary lifestyle, and poor dietary habits. Much of the emerging evidence suggests that nutrition can modulate the toxicity of environmental pollutants, which may alter human risks associated with toxicant exposures.
In this commentary, we discuss the basis for recommending that nutrition be considered a critical variable in disease outcomes associated with exposure to environmental pollutants, thus establishing the importance of incorporating nutrition within the context of cumulative risk assessment.
A convincing body of research indicates that nutrition is a modulator of vulnerability to environmental insults; thus, it is timely to consider nutrition as a vital component of human risk assessment. Nutrition may serve as either an agonist or an antagonist (e.g., high-fat foods or foods rich in antioxidants, respectively) of the health impacts associated with exposure to environmental pollutants. Dietary practices and food choices may help explain the large variability observed in human risk assessment.
We recommend that nutrition and dietary practices be incorporated into future environmental research and the development of risk assessment paradigms. Healthful nutrition interventions might be a powerful approach to reduce disease risks associated with many environmental toxic insults and should be considered a variable within the context of cumulative risk assessment and, where appropriate, a potential tool for subsequent risk reduction.
人类风险评估范式包含许多变量，这些变量必须综合来看，以改善人类健康并预防慢性疾病。然而，慢性疾病的病理十分复杂，可能会受到环境污染物暴露、久坐不动的生活方式和不良饮食习惯的影响。大量新出现的证据表明，营养可以调节环境污染物的毒性，这可能会改变与有毒物质暴露相关的人类风险。
在这篇评论中，我们讨论了建议将营养视为与环境污染物暴露相关疾病结果的关键变量的依据，从而确立了在累积风险评估中纳入营养的重要性。
大量令人信服的研究表明，营养是对环境刺激易感性的调节剂；因此，将营养视为人类风险评估的重要组成部分是及时的。营养可以作为与暴露于环境污染物相关的健康影响的激动剂或拮抗剂（例如，高脂肪食物或富含抗氧化剂的食物）。饮食实践和食物选择可以帮助解释人类风险评估中观察到的巨大变异性。
我们建议将营养和饮食实践纳入未来的环境研究和风险评估范式的制定中。健康的营养干预措施可能是减少与许多环境有毒物质暴露相关疾病风险的有效方法，应作为累积风险评估的一个变量，并在适当情况下作为随后降低风险的潜在工具。
