Table 3.

Effects of endocrine disruptors on the human microbiota.

References	Compound	Exposure Route	Species Strain Mode	Methods	Outcomes	Conclusions
Eggers et al. (2019) [81]	Metals (lead)	Environmental (food)	Adult humans	DNA sequencing of the 16S rRNA V4 region	Increased urine Pb levels were associated with the presence of Proteobacteria, increased α-diversity (p = 0.071), and wealth (p = 0.005). Changes in β-diversity were significantly associated (p = 0.003) with differences in Pb levels.	Pb exposure is associated with diversity and compositional changes of intestinal microbiota in adults.
Wu et al. (2016) [82]	Phytoestrogen	Oral (diet)	Adult humans	16S rRNA-tagged sequencing and plasma and urinary metabolomic platforms	Consumption of fermentable substrates was not associated with higher levels of short-chain fatty acids in fecal samples in vegans.	Despite the differences in plasma metabolome between vegans with high soy consumption and omnivores, the gut microbiota in the two groups was similar.
Yang et al. (2019) [83]	Phthalates (Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate)	Intravenous (plastic)	Newborns	Water ACQUITY UPLC and MS/MS; 16S rRNA sequencing	Biota differences were found between meconium samples and fecal samples collected later. Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate-exposed microbiota showed higher variability of bacteria taxa.	Short-term di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate exposure led to temporary gut dysbiosis. This suggests that long-term exposure may result in permanent gut dysbiosis. Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate levels did not alter the dominant bacterial phyla composition, but the Firmicutes-Bacteroidetes ratio changed over time in both exposed and unexposed newborns.
Stanaway et al. (2017) [84]	azinphos-methyl	Oral and inhalation	Adult men	Isotope dilution GC-HR-MS, 16S rRNA gene DNA sequenced and Agencourt AMPure XP PCR purification system	Disturbances in Streptococcus, Micrococcineae, Gemella, Haemophilus, Halomonas, Actinomycineae, and Granulicatell were observed, and decreased oral bacterial genus Streptococcus.	Human exposure to agricultural pesticides is associated with the alteration of oral microbiota, but future research is needed to support these findings.
Bever et al. (2018) [85]	TCS	Oral (breast milk)	Infants and Mothers	16S rRNA sequencing and GC-MS	Diversity in fecal microbiome of TCS-exposed infants versus unexposed infants differed	Exogenous chemicals are correlated with disturbances in microbiome diversity in the intestinal community of infants during the early developing period.
Ribado et al. (2017) [86]	TCs (TCS and TCC)	Dermal (personal care products)	Infants and Mothers.	16s rRNA sequencing	TC exposure was not associated with a reduction of gut microbiota diversity in mothers and their infants at any of three time points after birth. Shannon’s diversity index was not decreased in infants randomized to TC-containing products.	After 10 months, chronic TC exposure from household products does not contribute to recovery of gut microbiomes in mothers or their infants. The most abundant species in the unexposed infants, B. fragilis, is associated with direct maturation of the immune system and the production of anti-inflammatory polysaccharides.