Does adherence to U.S. dietary guidelines during pregnancy reduce exposure to over 50 contemporary and understudied chemicals?

Key Takeaways: Diet is an important source of exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which are linked to adverse maternal and child health outcomes. Aside from consuming fresh foods or restricting processed/packaged food intake, there are no comprehensive recommendations for reducing dietary EDC exposures during pregnancy. Current U.S. dietary guidelines for pregnancy, which promote healthy diets to support fetal development, do not factor in the presence of EDCs in foods. In this ECHO-wide study, we aimed to evaluate whether better adherence to dietary guidelines reduces exposure to over 50 contemporary and understudied EDCs, including phthalates and their replacements, pesticides, phenols, organophosphate esters, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Diana Pacyga, M.S., PhD

T32 Postdoctoral Trainee, Department of Epidemiology

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Speaker Biography:

Diana Pacyga is a T32 Postdoctoral Trainee in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her current research focuses on two areas: investigating diet as a source of chemical exposure and evaluating the neurodevelopmental consequences of prenatal and early life chemical exposures.

She previously earned a dual Ph.D. in Human Nutrition and Environmental Toxicology from Michigan State University, where she was part of a multidisciplinary program spanning the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition and the Environmental and Integrative Toxicological Sciences program.

Diana is trained in environmental, molecular, nutritional, and perinatal epidemiology, and has experience studying how chemical and non-chemical stressors during critical life stages—like pregnancy, infancy, and midlife—can affect maternal and child health.

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