본 연구에서는 nicotine 분해에 효과에 대하여 해양식물 유래의 후코이단을 이용하여 시험관에서 직접 혼합법 및 세포주 시험에서 nicotine의 cotinine으로의 전환능을 측정하였다. 직접 혼합법 시험결과, 후코이단 1 μg/mL에서 시간이 경과함에 따라서 nicotine의 cotinine으로의 전환 정도가 대조군 대비 증가하여 시험 종료 시점에서 15배의 증가율을 나타내었다. 세포주을 이용한 nicotine의 분해능 시험 결과, 시험 종료 시점에서 대조군 대비 6배의 cotinine 증가율을 나타내었다. 양성 대조군으로 사용한 녹차 추출물 대비 nicotine 분해능은 우수한 것으로 평가되었다. 그러나 후코이단의 항산화능은 녹차 추출물과 대비하여 낮았으며, 항산화 주요 기능을 갖는 폴리페놀 및 플라보노이드 성분 역시 낮았다. 본 시험 결과가 나타내는 바는 후코이단의 nicotine의 cotinine으로의 전환능에 대한 입증을 하였으며 이는 금연 보조 역할을 할 수 있는 기능성 소재로 사료된다.

The numbers of deaths attributed by tobacco smoking have remarkably increased, reflecting the smoking patterns of previous decades. Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke increases the prevalence of both upper and lower respiratory tract illnesses. Self-reports of direct and indirect smoking may not always be reliable in questionnaire method used epidemiology. A number of biochemical makers have been used to validate claims of indirect smoking among which the most widely used specific markers has been the nicotine metabolite cotinine. This study was conducted to evaluate the cotinine levels to determine smoking status. Biomoitoring to assess the validity of questionnaire method found that sensitivity and specificity coefficients of around 100% and 100% in direct smokers. On the other hand, sensitivity and specificity coefficients were 56.74% and 47.26%, respectively. This results suggest that indirect smoking status should be assessed by biomonitoring such as cotinine levels.

The National Institute of Environmental Research (3rd KONEHs) conducted a survey of 280 residents in Ulsan, Suwon and Asan, and the concentration of heavy metals in the blood and urine were also analyzed. In case of blood lead concentration, Ulsan 2.27 ㎍/㎗, Suwon 2.08 ㎍/㎗, and Asan 1.75 ㎍/㎗, the high peak in Ulsan, and the low peak in Asan. In case of cotinine concentration, Ulsan smoking(609.16 ㎍/g_ct) is higher than nonsmoking(74.07 ㎍/g_ct), as Suwon and Asan smoking(416.72 ㎍/g_ct, 903.21 ㎍/g_ct) is higher than nonsmoking(72.72 ㎍/g_ct, 18.06 ㎍/g_ct), smoking group is higher than nonsmoking group in all areas revealed statistically significant correlation(p<0.01). In considering results synthetically, these study results are an aid to constructing environmental health science-side heavy metal management measure education programs for normal residents.