Estrogenic Activities of Food Supplements and Beers as Assessed by a Yeast Bioreporter Assay

Abstract

Mounting evidence of the effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in humans has led to assaying a vast array of food items (processed or packaged) as possible sources of human exposure to estrogens. In this study, we investigated the current situation in this respect of different food supplements and beer brands. Eleven food supplements and 24 beer brands were obtained from Helsinki, Finland. Sample preparation was carried out by established methods while estrogenic activities were assessed by a yeast bioluminescent assay, using two recombinant yeast strains (Saccharomyces cerevisiae BMAEREluc/ERα and S. cerevisiae BMA64/luc). All the food supplements as well as 81% of the beer samples tested were found to be estrogenic, with estradiol equivalent concentrations of food supplements and beer brands ranging from 7.5 to 11.5 µg/ml and from below detection limits to 43.6 ng/ml, respectively. The estrogenic activities detected in beer samples were not dependent on the beer's alcoholic content, the country of production, or the size of the production brewery. The results of our study imply that both food supplements and beers can be a significant source of human exposure to estrogens. Therefore, further studies and regular surveillance are warranted.