Contribution of breast milk and formula to arsenic exposure during the first year of life in a U.S. prospective cohort

Overview

This Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology paper from the Dartmouth Children’s Environmental Health Center (Carignan, Karagas, Punshon, Gilbert-Diamond, Cottingham) extends the Carignan 2015 cross-sectional finding to a prospective first-year-of-life cohort design within the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study. The 2016 paper documents the longitudinal arsenic-exposure trajectory across the first year of life with feeding-mode stratification (exclusively breastfed, mixed-fed, exclusively formula-fed, with-solid-foods-introduced), providing the temporal evidence for how feeding-mode transitions modulate cumulative infant arsenic body burden. The paper is the longitudinal companion to Carignan 2015 within the Dartmouth infant-As cluster.

Key conclusions

Cumulative arsenic exposure in the first year of life depends substantially on feeding mode. Formula-fed infants accumulate more arsenic than breastfed infants over the same time window, and the arsenic-rich first-foods transition (introduction of rice-based infant cereals around 4-6 months) further elevates exposure for both feeding-mode groups. The paper supports the per-month and cumulative arsenic exposure estimates used in U.S. infant-arsenic risk assessment.

Implications

• Certification: Longitudinal evidence base for the formula-vs-breastmilk first-year-of-life arsenic exposure case. Combined with Carignan 2015 and Jackson 2012, this paper completes the Dartmouth U.S. infant-As cluster that supports HMTc certification-floor scrutiny of infant formula heavy metal load.
• Courses: Standard reference for first-year-of-life arsenic exposure trajectory.

Wiki pages updated on ingest

• Arsenic, Inorganic
• Infant Formula, Powder (Non-Soy)

Update history

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