# Plaaben Compounds--Part I: An Overview of Their Characteristics, Detection, and Impacts
## 5 Paraben Detection
### Detection in Humans
[151] detected the presence of parabens in the urine of 3-years-old children, where the dominant parabens were MP, EP and PP at median values of 6.03, 3.17 and 2.40 ug/L, respectively. BuP and BeP were also found at 0.03 and 0.09 ug/L and the median values of estimated daily intake of five urinary paraben concentrations were 12.10, 5.68, 4.50, 0.06 and 0.17 ug/kg of body weight/day for MP, EP, PP, BuP and BeP, respectively. [PERSON] et al. [150] analyzed urine samples from Brazilian children aged between 6 and 14 years, and detected geometric mean values of 42.5, 0.5, 4.22 and 0.28 ng/mL for MP, EP, PP and BuP, respectively. Moreover, the authors detected about 2.65 and 0.48 ng/mL of paraben metabolites, methyl protocatechuate (OH-MP) and ethyl protocatechuate (OH-EP), respectively. MP, EP, PP and BuP ranged from 3.21 to 982, <0.10-28.6, <0.03-92.6 and <0.03-6.75 ng/mL, respectively. The authors suggest that the wide ranges identified could be related to the exposure of endocrine disruptors and individual factors such as metabolism, so it is possible that a correlation exists between urinary levels of ED and the consumption of personal care products. [PERSON] et al. [71] studied the influence of urinary parabens on male reproductive problems, detecting geometric mean values of parabens in urine of 14.7, 1.0, 4.3, 0.3 and 0.4 ug/L and median values of 15.6, 9.39, 3.7, 3.48 and 2.27 ug/L for MP, EP, PP, BuP and i-BuP, respectively. [PERSON] et al. [159] studied the presence of parabens and other compounds in human plasma, and detected median levels of 0.52, 0.36 and 0.56 ng/mL for MP, EP and PP, respectively. [PERSON] et al. [160] studied the presence of parabens and benzophenones in menstrual blood of Spanish women, and detected mean values of 3.19, 0.89, 1.15 and 0.45 ng/mL for MP, EP, PP and BuP, respectively. Additionally, they detected median levels of 1.41, 0.40, 0.63 and 0.37 for the same order of parabens. From samples of 57 women, all the samples presented the existence of three or more of the studied compounds, and 52.6% of samples had six or more of these compounds. The most detected paraben was MP in 98.2% of samples and the lowest one was BuP in 56.2% of samples. [PERSON] et al. [153] detected parabens in human serum at mean values of 42.6 ng/mL for MP and 7.4 ng/mL for PP, and median concentrations of 10 and 1.2 ng/mL for MP and PP, respectively. [PERSON] et al. [161] detected the presence of parabens and their metabolites in urine and blood samples from 196 Chinese university students. MP appeared in 68% and 52% of urine and blood samples, and the 4-HB was the predominant paraben metabolite, detected in 54% and 41% of urine and blood samples, respectively. The mean values for urine samples were 15.4, 4.76, 7.82, 0.4, 21.3, 0.84, 182 and 288 ng/mL for MP, EP, PP, BuP, OH-MP, OH-EP, 3.4-dihydroxybenzoic acid (3,4-DHB) and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (4-HB), respectively. For the same compound order, but regarding blood samples, the mean values were 1.60, 0.81, 0.85, 0.88, 1.95, 0.65, 2.29, and 4.01 ng/mL. The geometric mean values were 8.01, 0.25, 3.22, 0.24, 10.1, 0.25, 86.2 and 129 ng/mL for MP, EP, PP, BuP, OH-MP, OH-EP, 3,4-DHB and 4-HB, respectively, regarding urine samples, and for blood samples, the geometric mean values were 0.33, 0.05, 0.24, 0.06, 0.25, 0.06, 0.36 and 1.26 ng/mL. Additionally, the median values in urine were 9.88, 1.11, 3.23, 0.24, 11.3, 0.24, 115 and 167 ng/mL and, in blood samples were 0.84, 0.17, 0.70, <0.02, 1.06, 0.19, 1.67 and 2.88 for MP, EP, PP, BuP, OH-MP, OH-EP, 3,4-DHB and 4-HB, respectively. The EDI median values for university students were 25.9, 1.61 and 3.82 ug/kg body weight/day, and these values were higher in females than in males. [PERSON] et al. [72] tested 382 urine samples and serum hormone concentrations of young girls aged 6-17 years old and living in Canada. The geometric mean values were 11.2 and 1.9 ug/L for MP and PP, while for EP and BuP values were below the limit of detection. The median values were 9.7, <LOD, 1.4 and <LOD for MP, EP, PP and BuP, respectively.