Internal exposure to perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in vegans and omnivores
Open accessAbstract
Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a complex group of anthropogenic compounds with exceptional properties. Due to their high persistence and mobility, they have caused ubiquitous environmental contamination and in part accumulate in the food chain. In the general population, diet is the main source of PFAS exposure, with the important sources fish and meat. As a vegan diet implies the complete exclusion of any animal products, it might be expected that vegans have lower blood levels of PFAS compared to omnivores. Furthermore, lower levels of cholesterol is one of the well-documented nutritional effects in vegans, but cholesterol levels were also found to be associated with higher PFAS levels in epidemiological studies. To examine the relations of internal PFAS levels and the levels of cholesterol in vegans and omnivores, the cross-sectional "Risks and Benefits of a Vegan Diet" (RBVD) study was used involving 36 vegans and 36 omnivores from Berlin/Germany. Nine perfluoroalkyl substances were quantified in plasma using a triple-stage quadrupole mass spectrometer. Lower median plasma concentrations were found in vegans compared to omnivores for perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) (2.31 vs. 3.57 ng/ml, respectively; p = 0.02) and for perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) (<0.25 vs. 0.41 ng/ml, respectively; p < 0.0001). No significant differences of the median concentrations were observed for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) (1.69 vs. 1.44 ng/ml, respectively, p = 0.26) and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS) (1.96 vs. 1.79 ng/ml, respectively; p = 0.70). The strongest correlations with food groups, derived from a food frequency questionnaire, were observed between levels of PFOA and water consumption (in case of the total study population, n = 72), and between levels of PFOS as well as PFNA and the consumption of 'meat and meat products' (in case of the omnivores, n = 36). Levels of Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol were confirmed to be considerably lower in vegans compared to omnivores (86.5 vs. 115.5 mg/dl, respectively; p = 0.001), but no associations between the four main PFAS and LDL cholesterol were observed (all p > 0.05) at the low exposure level of this study. According to the results of our study, a vegan diet may be related to lower PFAS levels in plasma. We highlight the importance of the adjustment of dietary factors like a vegan diet in case of epidemiological studies dealing with the impact of PFAS on the levels of blood lipids.
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Meat consumption is associated with increased plasma PFAS levels, particularly PFUnDA, PFNA, and PFHxS.
“Meat consumption is associated with increased plasma PFAS levels, particularly PFUnDA, PFNA, and PFHxS.”
From Industrial Applications, Environmental Fate, Human Exposure, and Health Effects of PFAS (2025) · cites this paper as [198]
The Results (section 3; page unavailable) report a positive correlation between meat consumption and plasma PFNA in omnivores, but the strongest meat correlations were with PFNA and PFOS, not PFHxS. The same section reports no significant PFHxS difference between vegans and omnivores, and lists the compounds analyzed without PFUnDA. The Discussion (section 4; page unavailable) cites another study linking a combined pattern of meat and fish consumption to higher PFHxS and PFNA, but that does not establish a meat-specific PFHxS association here. (LLM, conf=0.90)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredHigh-vegetable diets correlate with lower PFAS plasma levels, while high-fat meat diets increase PFOS and PFNA concentrations.
“High-vegetable diets correlate with lower PFAS plasma levels, while high-fat meat diets increase PFOS and PFNA concentrations [198].”
From Industrial Applications, Environmental Fate, Human Exposure, and Health Effects of PFAS (2025) · cites this paper as [198]
The Results and Conclusion report lower PFOS and PFNA in vegans than omnivores, and the Results find correlations between meat-and-meat-products consumption and PFOS and PFNA among omnivores. They do not establish that high-vegetable diets lower PFAS levels overall: the total PFAS measure did not differ significantly between groups. Nor do they isolate high-fat meat or show that eating it causes concentrations to increase. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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- Authors
- Menzel, J., Abraham, K., Dietrich, S., Fromme, H., Völkel, W., Schwerdtle, T., & Weikert, C.
- Affiliations
- German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) (DE)
- LMU Klinikum (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Menzel, Juliane
- ORCID
- Venue
- International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2021-08
- Volume
- 237
- Pages
- 113808
- ISSN
- 1438-4639 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3184313349
- Cited by
- 40
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 1
- FWCI
- 2.45
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- OpenAgrar (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances research
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Toxic Organic Pollutants Impact
- Life Sciences › Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics › Pharmaceutical Science › Fluorine in Organic Chemistry
- Keywords
- perfluorinated compounds, PFAS, vegan diet, omnivorous diet, internal radiation exposure, plasma PFAS concentrations, dietary exposure, cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, PFOS, PFNA, perfluorooctanoic acid, PFHxS, meat consumption, water consumption, food frequency questionnaire, environmental contamination, food chain accumulation
- MeSH terms
- Vegans, Diet, Vegan, Animals, Cross-Sectional Studies, Environmental Pollutants, Fluorocarbons, Humans, Alkanesulfonic Acids
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