This study was performed to propose a new life style to reduce or simply eliminate dioxin exposure levels in
high school students using known statistical data. In order to do that, the analytical results of dioxin
concentrations in food and the environment were collected by KFDA and NIER. Additionally, a questionnaire
(male=73, female=58) for students about dietary intake has been surveyed and the dioxin exposure levels in the
students’ environments estimated. The dioxin intake amount has been estimated by using the questionnaire
results of n=131. The average dietary intake of PCDD/Fs through food consumption and the environment (air
and soil; detection in water has not been assumed) in Korea was estimated to be 0.530 pg-TEQ/kg body
weight/day. The dietary intake of PCDD/Fs for the male and female Korean high school students has been
calculated to be 0.526 and 0.536 pg TEQ/kg body weight/day, respectively. As a result of comparing dietary
intakes with the tolerable daily intake of 4 pg TEQ/kg bw/day, the mean dioxin exposure levels for Korean high
school students were 8 times lower than the present TDI level proposed by the KFDA. In this study, the dietary
intake of dioxin has been estimated to account for 87 percent of human exposure. Especially following food
types contributed to dioxin intake in decreasing order: fish (40%) > egg (21%) > milk & milk products (11%) >
beef & pork (10%). This result is similar to those reported in other studies in Korea (KFDA, 2006~2009).