Kumar et al. 2024 — Arsenic in Breast Milk, Bihar Gangetic Plains
This 2024 study from 11 arsenic-affected districts in Bihar, India, reports that 55% of lactating mothers had breast milk arsenic exceeding the WHO permissible limit, with values ranging up to 458 µg/L. The study provides a comprehensive picture of arsenic exposure through multiple matrices in a high-exposure Indian population.
Key numbers
Breast milk arsenic (n=378): Up to 458 µg/L; 55% exceeded WHO permissible limit for total As in breast milk. Samples from arsenic-exposed groundwater districts, Bihar.
Child urine arsenic (n=184): Mean 107.92 µg/g-Cr; 67% exceeded permissible limit (>50 µg/g-Cr).
Food arsenic in arsenic-affected Bihar (µg/kg):
| Commodity | Max reported |
|---|---|
| Rice | Up to 821 |
| Wheat | Up to 775 |
| Potato | Up to 1,450 |
These are maximum values from affected areas and represent the upper tail of the distribution; they do not represent average market concentrations.
Methods
Not detailed in Marker-converted excerpt but likely ICP-MS or HFAAS. n=513 women, 378 breast milk samples, 184 infant urine samples. Cross-sectional study.
Note: Breast milk values in severely As-contaminated regions like Bihar Gangetic plains reflect extreme groundwater exposure and are not representative of typical exposure in lower-contamination settings. The potato value of up to 1,450 µg/kg As warrants verification; potato typically accumulates much less As than rice.
Implications
Health: Documents serious arsenic exposure in breastfed Gangetic plains infants; the lactational exposure pathway is significant when maternal groundwater As is very high.
App: Geographic origin of water supply is a critical modifier for any As exposure estimate; Bihar groundwater As is among the highest documented globally.
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Page history
The five most recent substantive edits to this page. 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 | Description |
|---|---|---|
| b0f3d38 | 2026-06-12 | batch | corpus rescreen b04 old terminal skips |