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Intake of high-pesticide residue reduces likelihood of pregnancy, live birth
Greater consumption of high-pesticide residue on fruits and vegetables lowered the probability of clinical pregnancy and live births among women who underwent infertility treatment with assisted reproductive technologies, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
“Animal experiments suggest that ingestion of pesticide mixtures at environmentally relevant concentrations decreases the number of live-born offspring. Whether the same is true in humans is unknown,” Yu-Han Chiu, MD, ScD, from the department of nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and colleagues wrote.
Chiu and colleagues studied the association between intake of pesticide residues on fruits and vegetables and pregnancy outcomes using cluster-weighted generalized estimating equations.
The researchers enrolled 325 women (mean age, 35.1 years; mean BMI, 24.1 kg/m2) from the Environment and Reproductive Health (EARTH) prospective cohort study who underwent infertility treatment with 541 cycles of assisted reproductive technologies and completed a diet assessment. They used the Pesticide Residue Burden Score (PRBS) to categorize fruits and vegetables as having high (PRBS score of 4 or greater) or low (PRBS score of less than 4) pesticide residues.
Overall, participants consumed a mean of 1.7 servings per day of high-pesticide residue fruits and vegetables and 2.8 servings per day of low-pesticide residue fruits and vegetables. Women who had a greater intake of high-pesticide residue fruits and vegetables were less likely to have clinical pregnancy and live birth.
There was an 18% (95% CI, 5-30) lower likelihood of clinical pregnancy and a 26% (95% CI, 13-37) lower likelihood of live birth among women in the highest quartile of high-pesticide residue fruits and vegetables intake ( 2.3 servings per day), compared with those in the lowest quartile (< 1 servings per day). Intake of low-pesticide residue fruits and vegetables and assisted reproductive technology outcomes were not significantly associated.
“These data suggest that dietary pesticide exposure within the range of typical human exposure may be associated with adverse reproductive consequences,” Chiu and colleagues concluded.
“Our findings are consistent with animal studies showing that low-dose pesticide ingestion may exert an adverse impact on sustaining pregnancy,” they added. “Because, to our knowledge, this is the first report of this relationship in humans, confirmation of these findings is warranted.”
In an accompanying editorial, Philip J. Landrigan, MD, MSc, from Arnhold Institute for Global Health and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, wrote that these findings sound the alarm that regulating pesticides with a laissez-faire attitude can result in injury to human health. Physicians should respond to these findings by educating their patients, he wrote.
“Educate our patients about the hidden dangers of pesticides in the modern environment and urge reductions in exposure wherever possible,” he wrote. “Encourage our patients to eat organic. And educate elected officials and other policy makers about the hazards of pesticides — make them realize that pesticides are not merely a regulatory issue or an environmental problem, but that in fact these potent chemicals can have powerful effects on human health that need to be intelligently confronted.” – by Alaina Tedesco
Disclosure: All authors report no relevant financial disclosures.