Summary
This peer-reviewed FDA Total Diet Study exposure analysis estimates lead and cadmium dietary exposures for infants 0-11 months and children 1-6 years using 2018-2020 TDS concentration data and NHANES/WWEIA consumption data. It is relevant to Category 1 because it identifies processed baby food and infant formula as the largest contributor to infant lead and cadmium exposure among infants not consuming human milk.
Key numbers
- TDS food group “processed baby food and infant formula” includes all processed baby foods, infant formula, and baby water.
- For infants 0-11 months not consuming human milk, mean lead exposure was 1.3 ug/day, with lower-bound and upper-bound estimates 0.9 to 2.0 ug/day.
- For infants 0-11 months not consuming human milk, 90th-percentile lead exposure was 2.4 ug/day, with lower-bound and upper-bound estimates 1.9 to 3.6 ug/day.
- Mean lead exposure by body weight for infants was 0.16 ug/kg bw/day, with lower-bound and upper-bound estimates 0.12 to 0.26 ug/kg bw/day.
- For infants 0-11 months, mean cadmium exposure was 0.19 ug/kg bw/day, with lower-bound and upper-bound estimates 0.18 to 0.20 ug/kg bw/day.
- For infants 0-11 months, 90th-percentile cadmium exposure was 0.39 ug/kg bw/day, with lower-bound and upper-bound estimates 0.38 to 0.40 ug/kg bw/day.
- Foods with high hybrid mean lead concentrations included baby food sweet potatoes at 21 ug/kg and baby food teething biscuits at 18 ug/kg.
Methods (brief)
Lead and cadmium were measured in FDA Total Diet Study foods by ICP-MS. The exposure model mapped NHANES/WWEIA food consumption records to TDS concentration data and estimated lower-bound, upper-bound, and hybrid mean concentration scenarios for non-detects.
Limitations
Many outputs are exposure estimates, not finished-product concentration distributions. The “processed baby food and infant formula” group combines multiple HMTc rows, so row-specific pages should use this source for exposure context and only use product-specific concentration values where the paper names a specific food, such as baby food sweet potatoes or teething biscuits.
Implications
- Certification: Useful A-tier evidence for infant lead/cadmium exposure priority and product-category contributors.
- Courses: Strong example of food-group contribution modeling.
- App: Supports risk weighting for processed baby foods, formula, root vegetables, teething biscuits, grains, and vegetables.
- 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)
- Root-Vegetable Purees
- Teething & Snacks (Non-Rice)
- Teething & Snacks (Rice-Based)
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.
| Commit | Date | Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| a8052bb | 2026-08-09 | major | 7 sections added; narrative text revised |