Personal care products and cosmetics have been identified as major sources of paraben exposure among humans. However, the contribution of dietary factors has not been well understood. We recruited temple stay participants (n = 25) who followed a strict Buddhist vegetarian diet during a five-day period, and assessed the influence of this lifestyle change, employing their urine samples collected before and after the temple stay. Before the temple stay, methylparaben (MeP) was detected at the highest levels, followed by ethylparaben (EtP), propylparaben (PrP), butylparaben (BuP), and benzophenones (BPs) in the urine samples. Following the temple stay, the urinary EtP concentrations remarkably increased from 14.0 to 105 μg/L, and were around two orders of magnitude higher than those reported from other countries. Dietary factors associated with the temple diet may partly explain the increase, because EtP is allowed in Korea for seasoning and condiments, which are frequently added in vegetarian diets. Following the temple stay, however, MeP, PrP, and BPs did not show significant decreasing trends. In contrast, BuP levels decreased significantly, especially in male urine samples, that is, from 3.60 to 1.03 μ/L, suggesting a reduced use of certain personal care products during the temple stay. Our observations outline the potential importance of dietary factors on EtP exposure, and might help explain its high exposure levels among Korean population.

Reliable exposure factors are essential to determine health risks posed by chemicals in consumer products. We analyzed five risk-concerned product categories (anti-fogging, dye, disinfectant, repellent, and preservative products) for 13 products (three car anti-fogging products, a lens anti-fogging product, two car dye products, two drain disinfectants, an air conditioner disinfectant, a chlorine-based disinfectant, a fabric repellent, an insect repellent for food, and a wood preservative) considered to be of high risk in order to determine exposure factors via web surveys and estimation of amount of product. Among the 3000 participants (1482 (49%) men) aged ≥19 years, drain disinfectants were used most frequently (38.2%); the rate of usage of the other products ranged between 1.1–24.0%. The usage rates for the consumer products differed by sex, age, income, and education. Some consumer products such as car and lens anti-fogging products, chlorine-based disinfectants, fabric repellents, and drain disinfectants were regularly used more than once a month, while car dye products, air conditioner disinfectants, insect repellents for food, and wood preservatives were not regularly used owing to the specific product purposes and seasonal needs. Our results could be used for managing or controlling chemical substances in consumer products and conducting accurate exposure assessments.