Daily intake of heavy metals by infants through milk and milk products

Concentrations of the essential elements Zn and Cu and potentially toxic el ements Pb and Cd in different milk samples and baby food materials were mea sured, primarily to assess whether the intakes comply with recommended desi red levels for essential and permissible levels for toxic elements. The geo metric mean concentrations of Pb, Cd, Cu and Zn in different types of milk were found to vary from 1.70 to 3.35, 0.07 to 0.10, 43.2 to 195 and 1772 to 4230 mu g/l, while the same in different baby foods had values from 39.5 t o 77.7, 0.45 to 17.7, 1106.3 to 3157.3 and 9367 to 34592 mu g/kg, respectiv ely. The concentration of Cd was found to be very low (0.1 mu g/l) and fair ly constant in all types of milk. The lead content in cow milli was observe d to be the lowest even in comparison with breast milk. Concentrations of a ll these metals are approximately one order of magnitude higher in baby foo d products than those observed in different types of milk owing to higher f at content. The infant baby food Amul Spray contains low concentrations of toxic (Pb and Cd) and high concentrations of essential (Cu and Zn) elements . The daily intakes of Pb, Cd, Cu and Zn by infants through milk and baby f oods marketed in Mumbai city have also been estimated. The daily intakes of Pb (1.1 mu g/kg) and Cd (0.01 mu g/kg) for infants through baby foods are well below the recommended tolerable levels of 3.57 mu g/kg and 0.8-1.0 mu g/kg, respectively. Similarly the daily intake levels of essential elements are also significantly lower than the recommended desirable levels of 3-5 mg and 0.5-1.0 mg for Zn and Cu, respectively. Milk from an Indian mother a lso does not provide adequate levels of essential elements to the infants a nd children. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.