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Comparative Study
. 2009 Nov;155(5):663-7.
doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2009.04.032.

Higher infant blood lead levels with longer duration of breastfeeding

Betsy Lozoff  1 , Elias Jimenez, Abraham W Wolf, Mary Lu Angelilli, Jigna Zatakia, Sandra W Jacobson, Niko Kaciroti, Katy M Clark, Min Tao, Marcela Castillo, Tomas Walter, Paulina Pino
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Higher infant blood lead levels with longer duration of breastfeeding

Betsy Lozoff et al. J Pediatr. 2009 Nov.

Abstract

Objective: To determine whether longer breastfeeding is associated with higher infant lead concentrations.

Study design: Data were analyzed from 3 studies of developmental effects of iron deficiency in infancy: Costa Rica (1981-1984), Chile (1991-1996), and Detroit (2002-2003). The relation between duration of breastfeeding and lead levels was assessed with Pearson product-moment or partial correlation coefficients.

Results: More than 93% of the Costa Rica and Chile samples was breastfed (179 and 323 breastfed infants, respectively; mean weaning age, 8-10 months), as was 35.6% of the Detroit sample (53 breastfed infants; mean weaning age, 4.5 months). Lead concentrations averaged 10.8 microg/dL (Costa Rica, 12-23 months), 7.8 microg/dL (Chile, 12 months), and 2.5 microg/dL (Detroit, 9-10 months). Duration of breastfeeding as sole milk source and total breastfeeding correlated with lead concentration in all samples (r values = 0.14-0.57; P values = .06-<.0001).

Conclusions: Longer breastfeeding was associated with higher infant lead concentration in 3 countries, in 3 different decades, in settings differing in breastfeeding patterns, environmental lead sources, and infant lead levels. The results suggest that monitoring lead concentrations in breastfed infants be considered.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest statement: No author had a conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Relation between lead concentration and duration of breastfeeding as the sole source of milk. All data points are shown: Costa Rica □, Chile △, Detroit ○. Regression lines are shown for each sample (Costa Rica formula image, Chile formula image, Detroit formula image) along with the Pearson correlation coefficient for Chile and partial correlation coefficients for Costa Rica and Detroit. ** p < .01, *** p < .001
Figure 2
Figure 2
Relation between lead concentration and total duration of breastfeeding. All data points are shown: Costa Rica □, Chile △, Detroit ○. Regression lines are shown for each sample (Costa Rica formula image, Chile formula image, Detroit formula image) along with the Pearson correlation coefficient for Chile and partial correlation coefficients for Costa Rica and Detroit. * p < .05, ** p < .01
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

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