Lead and cadmium levels in commercial infant foods and dietary intake by infants 0-1 year old

Abstract

Lead and cadmium levels were determined in 131 infant foods. Mean lead and cadmium levels were 19.3 and 3.3 ng/g for meats, 8.4 and 4.1 ng/g for vegetables, 14.9 and 0.58 ng/g for fruits and desserts, 9.6 and 0.53 ng/g for juices and drinks, and 32.8 and 33.6 ng/g for dry infant cereals. These data, combined with those from other recent surveys, yielded average dietary (food and water) intakes of lead and cadmium by infants 0-1 year old of 2.4 and 0.37 microgram/kg/day, respectively. Lead intakes were most strongly influenced by storage of infant formulas in lead-soldered cans. For infants 0-1 month old, they ranged from 0.5 microgram/kg/day when human or cow milk was fed to infants to 5.3 micrograms/kg/day (exceeding the FAO/WHO provisional tolerable daily intake, PTWI, of lead by children of 3.5 micrograms/kg) when ready-to-use formula stored in lead-soldered cans was fed. Cadmium intakes were most strongly affected by soya based formulas, and ranged, for 0-1 months olds, from 0.16 microgram/kg/day for infants fed human or cow milk to 0.50 microgram/kg/day for infants fed soya-based concentrated liquid formula. Cadmium intakes were all below the FAO/WHO PTDI of cadmium by adults of 0.96-1.2 micrograms/kg.