Essential and Toxic Elements in Infant Cereal in Brazil: Exposure Risk Assessment

Overview

Toledo et al. (2024) used published concentration data from Pedron et al. to assess cancer and non-cancer risk from essential and toxic elements in Brazilian infant cereals. The occurrence dataset covers 18 infant-cereal samples bought in 2014-2015 across several Brazilian jurisdictions, with three source groupings: rice cereal, multi-grain cereal containing rice, and non-rice-based cereal. The paper’s added contribution is the deterministic exposure and risk assessment for infants and toddlers aged 4 to <24 months.

Key numbers

Source dataset and analytes:

Source grouping	n	Description
Rice cereal	9	Rice-only infant cereals
Multi-grain cereal containing rice	5	Rice-and-oat, rice-and-fruit, and rice-and-cornstarch cereals
Non-rice-based cereal	4	Corn, oatmeal, and non-rice multi-grain cereals

The paper reports total concentrations for Ag, aluminum (Al), arsenic (As), B, Ba, Co, chromium (Cr), Cu, Mn, Se, Sr, Zn, nickel (Ni), cadmium (Cd), and lead (Pb) in Table 3. It also discusses arsenic as total arsenic (tAs) for the full 18-sample set and as inorganic arsenic (iAs) only through source-side speciation assumptions.

Source-reported total arsenic means by cereal grouping:

Group	tAs mean +/- SD
Rice cereal	111.37 +/- 43.23 ng/g
Multi-grain cereal containing rice	48.13 +/- 46.76 ng/g
Non-rice-based cereal	7.86 +/- 4.12 ng/g

Regulatory-comparator outcomes reported by the source:

Scenario or comparator	Source-reported result
inorganic arsenic (iAs) assumed to equal 100% of total arsenic (tAs)	1 of 18 samples (5.5%) above the Brazilian iAs maximum contaminant level; 8 of 18 samples (44.4%) above the US FDA and European Commission iAs comparator of 100 ng/g
inorganic arsenic (iAs) assumed to equal 90% of total arsenic (tAs)	7 of 18 samples (38.9%) above the US FDA and European Commission comparator
inorganic arsenic (iAs) assumed to equal 80%, 70%, 60%, and 50% of total arsenic (tAs)	4 samples (22.2%), 2 samples (11.1%), 1 sample (5.5%), and no samples, respectively, above the US FDA and European Commission comparator
cadmium (Cd)	Under the cited maximum contaminant levels in all samples
lead (Pb)	Two samples above the Brazilian and European Union Pb maximum contaminant levels: one cereal containing rice and oats and one rice-only cereal

Selected cancer-risk outputs:

Output	Source-reported value
Combined inorganic arsenic (iAs) + lead (Pb) ILCR range across infant cereals	1.14 x 10^-6 to 3.99 x 10^-5
Mean ILCR for rice cereal	2.6 x 10^-5 +/- 9.7 x 10^-6
Mean ILCR for multi-grain cereal containing rice	1.3 x 10^-5 +/- 1.0 x 10^-5
Mean ILCR for non-rice-based cereal	2.2 x 10^-6 +/- 8.7 x 10^-7
inorganic arsenic (iAs) contribution to total ILCR	98.5% to 99.9%
iAs-risk range if inorganic arsenic (iAs) is assumed to be 52% of total arsenic (tAs)	5.9 x 10^-7 to 2.1 x 10^-5
Mean rice-cereal ILCR if inorganic arsenic (iAs) is assumed to be 52% of total arsenic (tAs)	1.4 x 10^-5
lead (Pb) ILCR range across infant cereals	1.15 x 10^-8 to 8.08 x 10^-8

Selected non-cancer-risk outputs:

Output	Source-reported value
Samples with at least one HQ > 1	18 of 18
Elements responsible for HQ > 1	As, Cd, Cu, Mn, Se, and Zn
Elements most often responsible for HQ > 1	Cd, Cu, Mn, and Zn, each in 15 or 16 samples
Element least often responsible for HQ > 1	Se, in 3 samples
Proportion of evaluated element-sample combinations with HQ > 1	81.5% for rice cereal, 52.8% for multi-grain cereal containing rice, and 50.0% for non-rice-based cereal
If inorganic arsenic (iAs) is assumed to be 52% of total arsenic (tAs)	the number of samples with iAs HQ > 1 remains the same in the source’s iAs sensitivity scenario; the authors state that 10 samples might present human-health risk under that assumption
Elements with HQ < 1 in all evaluated samples	Ag, B, Ba, Co, Cr, Ni, Sr, Al, and Pb

The sample-level Table 3 extraction for five structured-extraction analytes (tAs, Al, Ni, Cd, Pb) is retained at the structured evidence record; the source page does not use that extraction as an independent study count.

Oatmeal rows in Table 3 are separate from the non-rice group mean. The table prints ng g−1. This note writes ng/g for the same numerals and does not convert them. The arsenic column is labeled As, not measured inorganic arsenic. Oatmeal B and oatmeal C are not pooled. Concentrations are from Pedron et al.; this paper adds the risk assessment. No new laboratory recovery is printed.

Row	Chromium	Arsenic	Aluminum	Nickel	Cadmium	Lead
Oatmeal B	90.08 ± 3.1 ng/g	12.54 ± 0.6 ng/g	1751.27 ± 125.0 ng/g	498.52 ± 21.1 ng/g	1.58 ± 2.0 ng/g	26.66 ± 5.4 ng/g
Oatmeal C	82.52 ± 8.1 ng/g	6.29 ± 1.3 ng/g	3516.70 ± 322.6 ng/g	417.23 ± 28.1 ng/g	1.85 ± 0.7 ng/g	16.63 ± 8.5 ng/g

Methods

Toledo et al. used a deterministic risk-assessment framework with hazard identification, dose-response assessment, exposure assessment, and risk characterization. Exposure was modeled for two age groups: 4 to <12 months and 12 to <24 months.

Risk inputs in Table 1:

Parameter	4 to <12 months	12 to <24 months
Body weight	7.8 kg	11.2 kg
Exposure frequency	365 days/year	365 days/year
Exposure duration	0.67 years	1 year
Ingestion rate	31.2 g/day	94.08 g/day

The concentration data came from 18 infant-cereal samples reported by Pedron et al. The source states that total concentrations of 22 elements were determined by ICP-MS and that arsenic speciation used HPLC coupled to the mass spectrometer. For the risk assessment, the authors selected elements with available slope factors or reference doses from IARC, US EPA, OEHHA, ATSDR, FAO, and related agencies. Cancer risk was calculated for iAs and Pb only because those were the two agents with available slope factors in the authors’ framework.

Speciation and methods caveats

The full sample set reports total arsenic, not measured sample-by-sample iAs. One Brazilian rice-cereal sample had iAs speciation; the authors cite that iAs was approximately 40% of tAs in that sample.
The authors present a conservative scenario where iAs is 100% of tAs, and a lower scenario where iAs is 52% of tAs based on cited infant-cereal literature.
Chromium is total Cr only; the paper does not report hexavalent chromium (Cr-VI).
Al, Cd, and Ni were not included in the cancer-risk calculation because the authors did not have cancer slope factors for those elements.
The Pb reference dose was calculated from a provisional tolerable weekly intake that the source notes had been withdrawn; the authors therefore caution that no Pb exposure level is currently considered safe.
The concentration data were originally generated by Pedron et al.; Toledo et al. is the risk-assessment integration paper and should not be double-counted as an independent concentration survey if Pedron et al. is separately ingested.

Implications

Standards work: This source provides Brazilian-market infant-cereal occurrence context and risk-model outputs for rice-based and non-rice dry baby-cereal pages. Its strongest source-specific signal is the contrast between rice-containing cereals and non-rice cereals for total arsenic and modeled iAs risk, with Cd and Pb retained as secondary toxic-element comparators.

Courses: The paper is useful for teaching how speciation assumptions move arsenic risk estimates. The same tAs table can support materially different iAs risk scenarios depending on whether the model assumes 100%, 52%, or another fraction of total arsenic is inorganic.

App: The Table 3 sample extraction can support jurisdiction-labeled Brazilian occurrence context for baby-cereal displays, but it should be labeled as Brazilian-market data acquired in 2014-2015 and as a small sample set.

Update history

No substantive edit history is available in this build. The full commit record is available in git.