Cadmium, lead and mercury in human milk from Slovakia

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate Cd, Pb, and Hg levels in the breast milk of 158 lactating healthy women who were not occupationally exposed and living in eight environmentally different polluted locations of the Slovak Republic. Levels of these metals were examined in relation to selected parameters, such as: location, mother's age, parity, number of mother's teeth fillings, newborn's gender and birth weight, and smoking habits in the family. Cd and Pb levels in human milk and reconstituted infant formula were determined by GFAAS. Hg levels were measured by amalgamation technique AAS. The average concentrations of Cd, Pb and Hg in breast milk samples, taken on the 4th postpartum day, were 0.43, 4.7 and 0.94 microg/kg, respectively, and those in infant formula (n = 10) were 0.40, 5.0 and 0.25 microg/kg, respectively. Dietary weekly intakes of Cd, Pb, and Hg from breast milk and infant formula in newborn babies were also estimated. Whereas the calculated average dietary intakes of Cd, Pb, and Hg in newborn babies from breast milk and infant formula were all far lower than the appropriate PTWI values recommended by WHO/FAO, two individual breast milk samples for Pb and one breast milk sample for Hg exceeded the PTWI values. Regarding the studied parameters, only the active/passive smoking of the mother at home significantly increased Pb levels in breast milk and amalgam teeth fillings increased Hg levels in breast milk.

Determination of cadmium and lead in human milk

“…The results of this study show that smoking habits do not have a significant influence on the lead concentration in breast milk (P > 0.05) which is in accordance with the results obtained in Sweden, Croatia, Greece and Slovakia (Palminger Hallen et al, 1995;Frokvic et al, 1997;Ursinyova and Masanova, 2005). However, Gundacker et al (2000) found that smoking increased lead concentration in milk significantly.…”

“…Younes et al, (1995) reported that the lead concentration was significantly lower in milk samples obtained from mothers aged < 20 years (5.1 ± 1.4 µg/L) compared to mothers aged > 36 years (13.43.5 µg/L). On the contrary, Frkovic, et al (1997) and Ursinyova and Masanova (2005) observed higher cadmium and lead concentrations in the milk obtained from younger mothers. However, the differences were not statistically significant.…”

“…A tendency toward higher cadmium concentration in smokers was observed also in the Swedish and Creation lactating women (Plaminger Hallen et al, 1995;Frkovic et al, 1997) Eynon et al, (1985) estimated that the infants of smoking mothers were exposed 20 -40 % more to cadmium than the in fants fr om non-smokin g mothers and the concentration of cadmium in milk were increased by 8 %, 17 % and 28 % due to the mother's smoking habits before pregnancy; father's smoking habits and smoking at home, respectively. Leotsinidis et al, (2005) and Ursinyova and Masanova (2005) observed higher cadmium concentration in the milk in women from families with smoking habits, but differences were not statistically significant.…”

“…The difference was significant for lead (P < 0.05) but not for cadmium. Other studies also showed no influence of parity on cadmium concentration in milk and a slight increase of lead concentration in milk from lactating multiparous women (Sikorski et al, 1989;Frkovic et al, 1997;Ursinyova and Masanova, 2005).…”

“…After cooling, volume was adjusted to 50 mL with ddH 2 O. The concentrations of cadmium and lead were determined by the graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry method using UNICAM 939 (Unicam, Cambridge, UK) apparatus with electrothermic atomizer GF-90 according to the method described previously (Ursinyova and Masanova, 2005). The detection limits calculated as three times the standard deviation were 0.038 µg/L and 0.043 µg/L of milk for cadmium and lead, respectively.…”