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

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.

Specialty and non-formula rows

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

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.