Dietary acrylamide exposure and health risk assessment of pregnant women: A case study from Türkiye.

This study aimed to determine the acrylamide exposure of pregnant women resulting from the consumption of bread, coffee, and French fries and to evaluate it in terms of carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks. Retrospective 24-h food consumption data of pregnant women (n = 487) was obtained using the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ). Dietary acrylamide exposure was calculated according to a deterministic model, and the data were assessed by hazard index (HI) and carcinogenic risk (CR). The mean daily acrylamide exposure of pregnant women aged 18-30 and ≥31 years and in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd trimesters was 31.4, 35.4, 38.7, 31.3, and 32.4 µg/day, respectively. The acrylamide exposure data were not significantly different among different age groups and pregnancy periods (p > .05). Dietary acrylamide exposure in pregnant women of different age groups and trimesters may cause significant and serious health problems in terms of carcinogenic risk. According to their level of contribution to average acrylamide exposure, the foods were ranked as follows: French fries> bread> coffee. There is a significant risk of cancer due to exposure to acrylamide from French fries and bread other than coffee. The findings suggest that pregnant women should avoid consuming French fries, bread, and coffee with high acrylamide levels for both their own health and their newborns' health.

Bread Consumption-Induced Heavy Metal Exposures and Health Risk Assessment of Pregnant Women: Turkey.

Affordable, nutritious, and easily available bread has a significant place in the nutrition of pregnant women. This study aims to determine bread consumption-induced heavy metal exposure in pregnant women with different sociodemographic characteristics living in Turkey and to evaluate it for non-carcinogenic health risks. Bread consumption data of pregnant women covered a retrospective 24-h period. Heavy metal exposure was calculated according to the deterministic model. Non-carcinogenic health risk assessment was evaluated by target hazard quotient (THQ) and hazard index (HI). Bread consumption-induced Mn, Al, Cu, Ni, Pb, As, Cr, Co, Cd, and Hg exposures of all pregnant women (n = 446) were 44.0, 25.0, 6.62, 0.69, 0.15, 0.06, 0.04, 0.03, 0.03, and < 0.00 µg/kg bw/day, respectively. Bread consumption-induced Mn exposure was higher than the tolerable daily intake level. The HI (1.37 [Formula: see text] 1.71) related to bread consumption is greater than 1 in all pregnant women in different age groups and trimesters and bread consumption may cause some health concerns in terms of non-carcinogenic health risks for pregnant women. The bread consumption can be limited, but bread consumption should not be abandoned.

Assessment of death anxiety among medical and surgery clinics patients of a teaching hospital.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the level of death anxiety among inpatients in Medical and Surgery clinics. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted at the Medical and Surgery clinics of the University Hospital of Trabzon, Turkey, from June 15 to October 15, 2014. Data was gathered using a questionnaire and Death Anxiety Scale was applied. RESULTS: There were 170 subjects in the study. Mean death anxiety score was 7.82±2.73 among Medical patients, while it was 8.09±2.73 for surgical patients. Those who stayed at Medical Clinic showed statistically significant differences between death anxiety and gender, patients' profession, the type of patient room, and patients' previous surgeries (p<0.05 each). Patients who stayed at Surgery Clinic showed statistically significant differences between death anxiety and age, marital status, having visitors, frequency of thoughts about death and sharing thoughts of death with others (p<0.05 each). CONCLUSIONS: Death anxiety was higher among patients who stayed at the Surgery Clinic than those at the Medical Clinic.