Summary
This peer-reviewed infant formula milk study measured nickel, lead, cadmium, iron, zinc, and aflatoxin M1 in 13 infant formula milk (IFM) brands purchased in Pakistani markets. The paper’s title, abstract, methods, and sample-prep description (defatting via centrifugation) consistently scope the matrix to milk-based formulas (IFM); no soy-based or hydrolyzed formulas are described. Author scope therefore resolves to milk-based / non-soy infant formula powder. Matrix axis: exact (milk-based / non-soy); format axis: powder (exact). The source reports brand-level summary ranges rather than a reconstructable percentile distribution and is not soy-vs-non-soy comparison evidence (no soy products in the panel). A prior version of this summary stated the source “does not distinguish cow-milk, non-soy, or soy-based formulas”; that hedge was incorrect — the paper does not include soy-based formulas at all, so the matrix axis is resolved as non-soy by the absence of any soy products in the design.
Key Numbers
| Product group | Metal | N | Statistic type | Reported value | Approximate ppb equivalent | Table/section |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infant formula milk brands | Nickel | 13 brands | range | below 0.001 to 50.903 mg/kg | below 1 to 50,903 ppb | Abstract and discussion |
| Infant formula milk brands | Lead | 13 brands | below detection | below 0.0004 mg/kg | below 0.4 ppb | Table 4 OCR / discussion |
| Infant formula milk brands | Cadmium | 13 brands | below detection | below 0.0002 mg/kg | below 0.2 ppb | Table 4 OCR / discussion |
Methods Brief
The study used wet acid digestion followed by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry for metals. Reported limits of detection were 0.001 mg/kg for nickel, 0.004 mg/kg for lead, and 0.002 mg/kg for cadmium.
Limitations
The Markdown extraction of Table 4 is partially degraded, so the source page retains the abstract and discussion ranges rather than attempting a row-by-row product table. The very high nickel maximum (50.9 mg/kg) should be handled as source-scope p100 context pending PDF image QA. Soy-based formulas are not in the design (the panel is milk-based throughout); this source therefore cannot inform a soy-vs-non-soy comparison from this dataset alone.
Implications
Certification: Direct row-fit evidence for non-soy (milk-based) powdered infant formula nickel context. Brand-level summary ranges rather than a reconstructable percentile distribution; not enough by itself to select an aggregate row-standard percentile with 95% confidence, but counts toward the non-soy matrix CC pool when combined with other matrix-fit sources.
Courses: Useful example of why outlier/high-maximum sources need image verification before entering standards math.
App: Supports flagging nickel as an analyte requiring formula-row retrieval.
Microbiome: No direct microbiome endpoint.
Wiki Pages Updated On Ingest
Update history
The five most recent substantive edits to this page, classified major (evidence or structure moved), correction (a published value or statement was wrong and has been fixed), or minor (narrative rewritten without changing the underlying evidence). Each description is derived from what the edit did to this page; the linked commit is the authoritative record, routine regeneration passes are excluded, and the full version history lives in git. When DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.
| Commit | Date | Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| a8052bb | 2026-08-09 | major | 7 sections added; narrative text revised |