Objective To understand the exposure levels to cyclamate and cyclohexylamine in children bodies by measuring the content of cyclamate and cyclohexylamine in their urine.
Methods A total of 268 volunteers aged 2-12 years in Taizhou, Jiangsu province, China were recruited, and their urine samples within 24 h were collected from May to June 2019.A questionnaire survey was performed on their intraday diet, sweet food habits, and health status. Ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was used to determine the content of cyclamate and cyclohexylamine in the urine samples.A statistical analysis was performed to investigate the effects of age, sex, sweet food preference, sweetness requirement, and sweet food intake frequency on daily intake of cyclamate and the concentrations of cyclamate and cyclohexylamine.
Results In this study, the detection rate of cyclamate was 68.70%, and the median mass concentration of cyclamate was 2.41 mg/L in the cyclamate positive samples. There were significant differences in cyclamate mass concentration among different age groups, sweet food preferences, and sweetness requirements (χ2 were 7.21, 7.64, and 6.75, respectively, P < 0.05). The median daily intake of cyclamate among all the volunteers was 0.04 mg/kg bw, and the maximum daily intake was 4.19 mg/kg bw, which was lower than the acceptable daily intake (7 mg/kg bw) set by the European Commission's Scientific Committee on Food. The detection rate of cyclohexylamine was 16.30%, and its maximum mass concentration was 11.70 mg/L.
Conclusion Children with sweeter diet were at higher risk of cyclamate exposure; and taking antibiotics, constipation, and other factors that can interfere with intestinal bacteria may increase the risk of metabolism of cyclamate to cyclohexylamine. It is suggested that children with constipation or taking antibiotics should not intake foods containing cyclamate to reduce the risk of metabolism of cyclamate.
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