Urinary mutagens and lifestyle factors

Background. Lifestyle determines the amount of exposure to environmental carcinogens/mutagens. We examined the relationship between various lifestyle factors and the urinary level of mutagens, which reflects both exposure dose and metabolism of these carcinogens/mutagens. Methods. Twenty-four-hour urine specimens obtained from 69 males were subjected to blue rayon extraction, after which the elutions were fractionated by carboxymethyl cellulose column chromatography. The mutagens were measured by using an SS-mediated Salmonella mutagenicity test. The subjects were classified into three groups according to their total scores on a questionnaire regarding eight health practices: cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking, nutritional balance, eating breakfast, sleeping hours, working hours, physical exercise, and mental stress. Results. Compared with those with ''poor'' health practice, subjects with ''good'' health practice showed a significantly lower urinary level of mutagens in all chromatography fractions, as well as in the acid- and alkali-elutable fractions. Cigarette smoking and nutritional balance were the most highly correlated factors. Conclusions. Our findings show that poor health practices increase the urinary level of mutagens, suggesting that a healthy lifestyle reduces exposure to carcinogens/mutagens and may reduce cancer risk. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.