Editing Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (section)

==Metabolism==
Dioxins are absorbed primarily through dietary intake of fat, as this is where they accumulate in animals and humans. In humans, the highly chlorinated dioxins are stored in fatty tissues and are neither readily metabolized nor excreted. The estimated elimination [[half-life]] for highly chlorinated dioxins (4–8 chlorine atoms) in humans ranges from 4.9 to 13.1 years.<ref name="pmid19337517">{{cite journal | vauthors = Milbrath MO, Wenger Y, Chang CW, Emond C, Garabrant D, Gillespie BW, Jolliet O | title = Apparent half-lives of dioxins, furans, and polychlorinated biphenyls as a function of age, body fat, smoking status, and breast-feeding | journal = Environmental Health Perspectives | volume = 117 | issue = 3 | pages = 417–25 | date = March 2009 | pmid = 19337517 | pmc = 2661912 | doi = 10.1289/ehp.11781 }}</ref>

The persistence of a particular dioxin [[congener (chemistry)|congener]] in an animal is thought to be a consequence of its structure. Dioxins with no lateral (2, 3, 7, and 8) chlorines, which thus contain hydrogen atoms on adjacent pairs of carbons, can more readily be oxidized by [[cytochrome P450|cytochromes P450]].<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31608602/ | pmid=31608602 | date=2020 | last1=Samer | first1=C. F. | last2=Gloor | first2=Y. | last3=Rollason | first3=V. | last4=Guessous | first4=I. | last5=Doffey-Lazeyras | first5=F. | last6=Saurat | first6=J. H. | last7=Sorg | first7=O. | last8=Desmeules | first8=J. | last9=Daali | first9=Y. | title=Cytochrome P450 1A2 activity and incidence of thyroid disease and cancer after chronic or acute exposure to dioxins | journal=Basic & Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology | volume=126 | issue=3 | pages=296–303 | doi=10.1111/bcpt.13339 }}</ref> The oxidized dioxins can then be more readily excreted rather than stored for a long time.{{Citation needed|date=April 2007}}