Health Risk Assessments of Selected Trace Elements and Factors Associated with Their Levels in Human Breast Milk from Pretoria, South Africa

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health 2021-09, Vol.18 (18), p.9754
• Main Authors: Olowoyo, Joshua O, Macheka, Linda R, Mametja, Phiona M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Babies; Binding sites; Birth weight; Breast feeding; Breast milk; Breastfeeding & lactation; Cadmium; Chromium; Cobalt; Drinking water; Environmental Pollutants; Female; Food contamination & poisoning; Health risks; Humans; Inductively coupled plasma; Infants; Metal concentrations; Milk, Human - chemistry; Nitric acid; Passive smoking; Pollutants; Risk Assessment; South Africa; Spectrophotometry; Trace elements; Trace Elements - analysis; Trace metals; Womens health
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18189754

While breast milk is the recommended food for infants up to at least six months, exogenously derived compounds such as trace elements have been widely reported in human milk which may make it become toxic or a source of pollutants to the infants. Numerous short- and long-term health effects have been associated with high body-burdens of trace elements, which are amplified in infants. The current study determined the levels and possible contributing factors of six trace elements in breast milk of nursing mothers from a local hospital in Pretoria. Extraction of trace elements employed a digestion technique using perchloric and nitric acid in a ratio of 1:3, while Inductively Coupled Plasma-Membrane Spectrophotometry was used to identify and quantify their levels in breast milk. Concentrations of Cr and Mn were the highest in breast milk, with values ranging from 0.30 to 5.72 µg/L and 0.23 to 5.13 µg/L, respectively. Levels of Co, As, Pb and Cd ranged from