Milani 2023 - Trace Elements In Soy-Based Beverages
This A-tier peer-reviewed paper is the first promoted Category 5 occurrence source for the soy-based plant-milk row. It measured 18 soy-based beverages from Campinas, Brazil, grouped by soy source, using ICP-OES. It provides usable finished-product values for Al, As, Cd, Ni, Pb, Sn, and other trace elements, plus an Al exposure estimate for one 200 mL serving.
Key numbers
| Metal | Field findings in soy-based beverages | HMI handling |
|---|---|---|
| Al | Mean 758 ug/L in isolate-protein beverages, 609 ug/L in hydrosoluble-extract beverages, and 176 ug/L in soybean beverages; ranges 137-1822, 92-1375, and 45-356 ug/L | Finished-product occurrence evidence for plant-milks-soy-based |
| tAs | <38.2 ug/L across all three soy-source groups | Total arsenic only; do not treat as iAs |
| Cd | <3.8 ug/L across all three soy-source groups | Occurrence context; no exact loaded product-specific regulation in the wiki yet |
| Cr | 1.8 (<10.9-11.0) ug/L in isolate-protein beverages; <10.9 ug/L in hydrosoluble-extract and soybean beverages | Total/unspecified chromium only; do not treat as Cr-VI |
| Ni | <25.7 ug/L in isolate-protein beverages, 4.9 (<25.7-29.4) ug/L in hydrosoluble-extract beverages, and 29 (<25.7-46) ug/L in soybean beverages | Occurrence context for the soy row |
| Pb | <10.9 ug/L in isolate-protein and hydrosoluble-extract beverages; 2.2 (<10.9-13) ug/L in soybean beverages | Occurrence context; source-cited Brazilian/MERCOSUR threshold comparison needs direct legal-source review |
| Sb | 6.2 (<10.3-24) ug/L in isolate-protein beverages, 2.5 (<10.3-15) ug/L in hydrosoluble-extract beverages, and 12 (<10.3-61) ug/L in soybean beverages | Occurrence context; censored lower range bounds retained as reported |
| Sn | 4.3 (<18-26) ug/L in isolate-protein beverages; <18 ug/L in the other groups | Occurrence context |
| Al exposure | One 200 mL serving contributed up to 3.5% of Al PTWI for children and 0.9% for adults | Risk context, not an HMTc threshold |
Regulatory crosswalk status
The authors compare As, Cd, Pb, and Sn against Brazilian and MERCOSUR inorganic-contaminant thresholds. The wiki has not yet loaded those legal instruments as direct regulation pages, and the field units are ug/L while the cited thresholds are expressed as mass-per-mass. Until density/basis and direct legal text are reviewed, the comparison layer treats those rows as context-only rather than compliance determinations.
Routing
These are finished soy-beverage measurements, so they belong on plant-milks-soy-based and in structured occurrence rows. They should not populate soy as ingredient-only values.
Limitations
The samples were Brazilian retail soy-based beverages, not global soy milks. The source is beverage-specific and does not resolve rice-based, almond, oat, coconut, or broader plant-milk rows. Arsenic is total arsenic, not inorganic arsenic.