Endocrine disrupting nonyl- and octylphenol in infant food in Germany: considerable daily intake of nonylphenol for babies.

Nonylphenol and octylphenol are persistent endocrine disrupters that are priority substances of the European Union Water Framework Directive. Their presence in the environment has caused increasing concern about their impact to human health. Infants are more sensitive to hormonal impacts of environmental chemicals than adults. The results of the present study indicate that nonylphenol is ubiquitous in foodstuffs for babies and toddlers commercially available in Germany, while octylphenol could only be determined in 80% of all food samples. The daily intakes based on consumption studies in μg nonylphenol kg⁻¹ body weight per day for high consumers in the baby category (0.23-0.65 μg kg⁻¹ bw d⁻¹) were relatively high. This could lead to a higher risk especially for babies.