Overview
Sharafi and colleagues measured arsenic, cadmium, mercury, lead, chromium, and nickel in breast milk from 100 lactating women in Kermanshah, western Iran. Chromium, nickel, and lead had the highest mean concentrations in breast milk, and the authors reported exceedance of their cited tolerable or maximum limits for several metals. The source is routeable for human-milk occurrence and infant exposure context, not for infant formula.
Key numbers
Table 1 reports breast-milk concentrations in ug/L.
| Metal | Mean | SD | Min | Max | Source-cited WHO TDI or MTL | Percentage exceeding source-cited limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| As | 1.96 | 2.04 | 0.06 | 11.76 | 0.3 | 75% |
| Cd | 0.72 | 0.42 | 0.07 | 2.11 | 0.4 | 74% |
| Hg | 0.31 | 0.26 | 0.05 | 1.12 | 0.7 | 9% |
| Pb | 11.5 | 4.48 | 4.11 | 21.74 | 3.6 | 100% |
| Cr | 41.07 | 23.19 | 11.02 | 128.72 | 0.9 | 100% |
| Ni | 19.25 | 11.81 | 0.10 | 66.98 | 12 | 72% |
The paper also measured drinking-water metals and reports water mean concentrations in the order Ni 16 ug/L, As 7.9 ug/L, Cr 6.2 ug/L, Pb 3.3 ug/L, Cd 0.1 ug/L, and Hg 0.5 ug/L. The authors state that 40% of breast-milk samples had Cr, Pb, Cd, As, and Ni all above the cited limits.
Methods (brief)
The study collected 5-10 mL breast milk samples from healthy primiparous breastfeeding mothers who had lived in Kermanshah for at least five years. Milk samples were stored at -20 C, digested with nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide, diluted to 25 mL, and measured by ICP-MS (Agilent 7900). The paper reports recoveries of 96-102% for measured elements.
Implications
Certification: Human milk is not a certifiable product row, but the source is relevant exposure context for infant vulnerability and for separating human-milk occurrence from infant formula evidence.
Courses: Useful for explaining maternal transfer of toxic elements and why speciation and matrix identity matter for infant exposure.
App: Supports human-milk context and health/exposure pages; it should not be routed to powdered or ready-to-feed infant formula rows.
Wiki pages this source may touch
Verification notes
- The source reports total arsenic, total mercury, and total chromium. It does not support inorganic arsenic, methylmercury, or Cr(VI) routing.
- The source is human breast milk, not infant formula.
- The methods section also measured drinking water, but breast milk is the routeable food/exposure matrix for this page.
Update history
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