ArticleToxics2025
Associations of Environmental Pollutant Mixtures and Red Blood Cell Folate Concentrations: A Mixture Analysis of the U.S. Adult Population Based on NHANES Data, 2007-2016.
Article in Toxics, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Air Pollution Mixture and Folate Status Indicators among Pregnant Women in Canada: Maternal-Infant Research on Environmental Chemicals (MIREC) Study, 2008 to 2011.Current developments in nutrition · 2026Article
- Age-Dependent Effects of Heavy Metals on the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Testicular Axis-Related Hormones in Men.Toxics · 2026Article
- Association between serum and red blood cell folate concentrations and urinary phthalate metabolite concentrations in US adults: evidence from a large population-based study.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundFolate is critical for many physiological processes, and low folate levels have been associated with a wide range of health outcomes, including chronic diseases and developmental outcomes. Many environmental chemicals are suspected to contribute to the etiology of health outcomes related to folate deficiency. However, little is known about how these pollutants influence folate levels as potential mechanistic pathways.
objectiveTo investigate the individual and joint associations between a mixture of 39 pollutants and red blood cell (RBC) folate concentrations in the U.S. POPULATION:
methodsWe used available data on 27,938 participants, aged 18-80 from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination survey (2007-2016), with available RBC folate concentrations and 39 environmental pollutants' concentrations. We estimated covariate-adjusted independent and joint associations between environmental pollutants and RBC folate, and compared evidence from two complimentary mixture approaches: exposome-wide association study (ExWAS) and quantile-based g computation (Q-gcomp).
resultsIn the ExWAS analysis, 12 environmental chemicals, including metals (cadmium, arsenic, lead, and mercury), perfluoroalkyl substances, phthalates, phenols and parabens, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, were inversely associated with RBC folate, whereas four environmental pollutants, including metals (manganese and selenium) and two phthalate metabolites, were positively associated with RBC folate. Q-gcomp showed convergent results with the ExWAS analysis; a quartile increase in the metal and PFAS mixtures was significantly associated with a decrease of -38.4 ng/mL (95%CI: -52.3, -24.4) and -48.9 ng/mL (95%CI: -57.6, -39.6) in RBC folate concentrations, respectively.
conclusionThe present study shows that higher exposure to PFASs, metals, and PAHs are associated with lower RBC folate concentrations. However, given the cross-sectional design, we cannot make inferences about the directionality of the observed associations.
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Registered trials
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