A nationwide, seven-day food consumption survey of 371 preschool children between the ages of birth and five years indicated that a direct linear relationship existed between age and increased dietary lead intake from foods consumed. Daily dietary lead intake averaged 62 ,ug and ranged from 15 ,ug to 234 ,ug. The various levels of lead intake were attributed to frequency of consumption of food items, quantity of food consumed, and the lead Lead poisoning is an important public health problem, with the adverse effects of lead on human health having been recognized for centuries.' In the United States, the majority of non-industrial cases of lead intoxication occur in children between the ages of one and six years, with the highest incidence between two and three years.23 Over 250,000 United States children per year are presently assessed for undue absorption of lead.4 Therefore, the recognition of factors, both synergistic and antagonistic, which influence the toxicity of lead are essential for adequate understanding of the sources and effects of environmental lead on young children. ' Previous research in this area has revealed that lead intake levels, once thought to be acceptable, were in fact, unacceptable.5 This prompted the Food and Drug Administration to establish as a long range goal that lead intake from all sources, by children birth to five years of age, not exceed 100 ,ug per day.6 Mahaffey* estimated that 55 to 85 per cent of a person's daily exposure to lead can be accounted for by foods consumed. Nevertheless, among infants and children the mouthing of objects and hands as well as the existence of possible ingestion of non-food substances such as paint and lead-contaminated dirt may well distort this percentage ingested from food, particularly in environments where lead contaminated dirt and dust contain 100 ppm lead.7This study was undertaken to determine the average daily dietary lead intake of a cross-sectional sample of American children ages birth to five years. An additional objective of this study was to assess the food sources that contributed to the average lead intake of the sample population.It is important to recognize that this investigation does not consider the per cent absorpiton of lead from diets but rather only the lead obtained from food as ingested. Balance studies, such as that carried out by Kehoe,8 and studies which examine fecal matter from children in whom lead intoxication has been discovered,9-'' serve a different pur- content of particular food items. To account for variation in the quantity of food consumed by the various children, average lead intake per 500 kilocalories consumed and per 500 g of food consumed was calculated. When these standardization procedures were followed, an equalization in the average daily dietary lead intake values was observed among the various aged children. (Am J Piublic Health 1983; 73:789-794.)
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