title: Contribution of breast milk and formula to arsenic exposure during the first year of life in a US prospective cohort.
abstract: Arsenic is a carcinogen that can also affect the cardiac, respiratory, neurological and immune systems. Children have higher dietary arsenic exposure than adults owing to their more restricted diets and greater intake per unit body mass. We evaluated the potential contributions of breast milk and formula to arsenic exposure throughout the first year of life for 356 infants in the prospective New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study (NHBCS) using infant diets reported by telephone at 4, 8 and 12 months of age; measured household water arsenic concentrations; and literature data. Based on our central-tendency models, population-wide geometric mean (GM) estimated arsenic exposures in the NHBCS were relatively low, decreasing from 0.1 μg/kg/day at 4 months of age to 0.07 μg/kg/day at 12 months of age. At all three time points, exclusively formula-fed infants had GM arsenic exposures ~8 times higher than exclusively breastfed infants owing to arsenic in both tap water and formula powder. Estimated maximum exposures reached 9 μg/kg/day among exclusively formula-fed infants in households with high tap water arsenic (80 μg/l). Overall, modeled arsenic exposures via breast milk and formula were low throughout the first year of life, unless formula was prepared with arsenic-contaminated tap water.
authors.affiliation: Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Center at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH, USA.|Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA.|Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Courtney C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Carignan
authors.affiliation: Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Center at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH, USA.|Department of Epidemiology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH, USA.
authors.forename: Margaret R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Karagas
authors.affiliation: Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Center at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH, USA.|Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA.
authors.forename: Tracy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Punshon
authors.affiliation: Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Center at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH, USA.|Department of Epidemiology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH, USA.
authors.forename: Diane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gilbert-Diamond
authors.affiliation: Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Center at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH, USA.|Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA.
authors.forename: Kathryn L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Cottingham
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001151:Arsenic / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000032:analysis*; D001942:Breast Feeding; D004326:Drinking; D060766:Drinking Water / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D041943:Infant Formula / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008895:Milk, Human / Q000737:chemistry*; D009513:New Hampshire; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000032:analysis; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D060766:Drinking Water; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D001151:Arsenic