Lead, cadmium and aluminum in Canadian infant formulae, oral electrolytes and glucose solutions

Dabeka et al. 2011 — Canadian Formula Lead, Cadmium, And Aluminum

Summary

This Canadian survey measured Pb, Cd, and Al in infant formulae, oral electrolytes, and 5% glucose solutions as consumed. It is especially useful for Category 1 because it reports formula results by format, soy/non-soy type, specialty formulation, and packaging/container context.

Key numbers

• Powdered milk-based formula, as consumed: n=57; Al mean 177 ng/g and max 1004 ng/g; Cd mean 0.17 ng/g and max 1.21 ng/g; Pb mean 0.65 ng/g and max 3.46 ng/g.
• Powdered soy-based formula, as consumed: n=15; Al mean 733 ng/g and max 1461 ng/g; Cd mean 1.56 ng/g and max 3.47 ng/g; Pb mean 0.72 ng/g and max 1.90 ng/g.
• Ready-to-use milk-based formula: n=67; Al mean 437 ng/g and max 3442 ng/g; Cd mean 0.23 ng/g and max 1.26 ng/g; Pb mean 0.90 ng/g and max 2.46 ng/g.
• Ready-to-use soy-based formula: n=14; Al mean 730 ng/g and max 1121 ng/g; Cd mean 1.18 ng/g and max 2.95 ng/g; Pb mean 1.45 ng/g and max 2.10 ng/g.
• Concentrated liquid milk-based formula: n=44; Al mean 131 ng/g and max 796 ng/g; Cd mean 0.13 ng/g and max 2.03 ng/g; Pb mean 0.32 ng/g and max 0.85 ng/g.
• Concentrated liquid soy-based formula: n=12; Al mean 706 ng/g and max 1047 ng/g; Cd mean 1.12 ng/g and max 1.70 ng/g; Pb mean 1.19 ng/g and max 1.54 ng/g.
• Oral electrolyte solutions had Cd at or below 0.01 ng/g and Pb averaging 0.16 ng/g; 5% glucose solutions had Pb and Cd means of 0.09 and 0.01 ng/g, respectively.
• Glass-stored ready-to-use formulae contained roughly 100-300 ng/g more Al than the same formulae stored in metal containers, while most glass-stored electrolyte and glucose solutions contained less than 8 ng/g Al, suggesting the glass material alone was not the likely sole source.

Formula concentration rows

Values are reported as consumed in ng/g; for water-like liquids and prepared formula this is approximately ppb. These are source-scope means, medians, and maxima, not p90 values.

Product fit	Metal	N	Basis	Mean	Median / p50	Max / p100	Row-fit note
infant-formula-powder-non-soy	Al	57	as consumed	177	44	1004	Direct milk-based powder summary; no benchmark percentile calculated from this source summary.
infant-formula-powder-non-soy	Cd	57	as consumed	0.17	0.06	1.21	Direct milk-based powder summary; no benchmark percentile calculated from this source summary.
infant-formula-powder-non-soy	Pb	57	as consumed	0.65	0.34	3.46	Direct milk-based powder summary; no benchmark percentile calculated from this source summary.
infant-formula-powder-soy-based	Al	15	as consumed	733	713	1461	Direct soy-based powder summary; no benchmark percentile calculated from this source summary.
infant-formula-powder-soy-based	Cd	15	as consumed	1.56	1.39	3.47	Direct soy-based powder summary; no benchmark percentile calculated from this source summary.
infant-formula-powder-soy-based	Pb	15	as consumed	0.72	1.27	1.90	Source table reports mean lower than median; preserve as source-reported and QA before final math.
infant-formula-rtf-liquid-non-soy	Al	67	ready-to-use, as consumed	437	365	3442	Direct milk-based RTU summary; no benchmark percentile calculated from this source summary.
infant-formula-rtf-liquid-non-soy	Cd	67	ready-to-use, as consumed	0.23	0.11	1.26	Direct milk-based RTU summary; no benchmark percentile calculated from this source summary.
infant-formula-rtf-liquid-non-soy	Pb	67	ready-to-use, as consumed	0.90	0.84	2.46	Direct milk-based RTU summary; no benchmark percentile calculated from this source summary.
infant-formula-rtf-liquid-soy-based	Al	14	ready-to-use, as consumed	730	769	1121	Direct soy-based RTU summary; no benchmark percentile calculated from this source summary.
infant-formula-rtf-liquid-soy-based	Cd	14	ready-to-use, as consumed	1.18	1.06	2.95	Direct soy-based RTU summary; no benchmark percentile calculated from this source summary.
infant-formula-rtf-liquid-soy-based	Pb	14	ready-to-use, as consumed	1.45	1.36	2.10	Direct soy-based RTU summary; no benchmark percentile calculated from this source summary.
infant-formula-concentrated-liquid-non-soy	Al	44	concentrated liquid, as consumed	131	61	796	Base/bridge row outside locked Category 1; useful format context.
infant-formula-concentrated-liquid-non-soy	Cd	44	concentrated liquid, as consumed	0.13	0.04	2.03	Base/bridge row outside locked Category 1; useful format context.
infant-formula-concentrated-liquid-non-soy	Pb	44	concentrated liquid, as consumed	0.32	0.29	0.85	Base/bridge row outside locked Category 1; useful format context.
infant-formula-concentrated-liquid-soy-based	Al	12	concentrated liquid, as consumed	706	798	1047	Base/bridge row outside locked Category 1; useful format context.
infant-formula-concentrated-liquid-soy-based	Cd	12	concentrated liquid, as consumed	1.12	0.96	1.70	Base/bridge row outside locked Category 1; useful format context.
infant-formula-concentrated-liquid-soy-based	Pb	12	concentrated liquid, as consumed	1.19	1.14	1.54	Base/bridge row outside locked Category 1; useful format context.

Specialty and non-formula rows

Product fit	Metal	N	Basis	Mean	Median / p50	Max / p100	Row-fit note
oral-electrolyte-solutions	Al	13 unflavoured; 8 flavoured	as consumed	48 unflavoured; 39 flavoured	5; 5	263; 283	Infant-support product context, not formula.
oral-electrolyte-solutions	Cd	21 total	as consumed	0.01	0.01	0.01	Infant-support product context, not formula.
oral-electrolyte-solutions	Pb	21 total	as consumed	0.16	0.14-0.16	0.41	Infant-support product context, not formula.
glucose-solutions	Al	6	5% glucose solution	73	6	239	Infant-support product context, not formula.
glucose-solutions	Cd	6	5% glucose solution	0.01	0.01	0.01	Infant-support product context, not formula.
glucose-solutions	Pb	6	5% glucose solution	0.09	0.08	0.15	Infant-support product context, not formula.

Packaging and manufacturing notes

The paper reports that formulae stored in glass bottles contained about 100-300 ng/g more Al than the same formulae stored in cans, while corresponding Pb and Cd differences were not observed. The same paper notes that most electrolytes and glucose solutions stored in glass contained less than 8 ng/g Al, so it does not attribute the increase simply to glass as a material.

The paper also reports large manufacturer differences for soya-based formulae and states that all manufacturers in the survey were able to produce plain milk-based formulae below 50 ng/g Al; the authors infer that manufacturing controls could reduce Al in many formula products.

Methods (brief)

Aluminum was measured after acid digestion by ICP-MS. Lead and cadmium were measured after nitric/perchloric acid digestion, coprecipitation, and ICP-MS. Table 1 reports formula concentrations as consumed.

Limitations

The paper reports concentrations in ng/g as consumed, so database ingest should preserve the original unit and normalize carefully before comparing against ppb or ug/kg values in dry powders. Concentrated liquid and electrolyte/glucose solution rows are useful graph evidence, but they are outside the locked 16 Category 1 row list unless a later architecture adds them.

Implications

Certification: Strong formula-format evidence for Pb, Cd, and Al distributions, especially soy/non-soy comparisons.

Courses: Useful example of why unit and preparation-state normalization are central to defensible standards work.

App: Supports formula-format, soy/non-soy, and preparation-state risk estimation.

Microbiome: No direct microbiome endpoint.

Wiki pages updated on ingest

• infant-formula-powder-non-soy
• infant-formula-powder-soy-based
• infant-formula-rtf-liquid-non-soy
• infant-formula-rtf-liquid-soy-based
• infant-formula-concentrated-liquid-non-soy
• infant-formula-concentrated-liquid-soy-based
• oral-electrolyte-solutions
• glucose-solutions
• infant-formula-ingredients
• milk-and-dairy
• soy
• aluminum-based-packaging
• lead
• cadmium
• aluminum