Heavy Metals Concentrations in Breast Milkand Related Factors among Early Postpartum Women

ABSTRACT

Purpose@#As industries develop rapidly, the risk of heavy metals pollution and exposure in the environmentand food is increasing. Even the slightest amount of heavy metals can be harmful to the human body, especiallyin newborn babies. This study aimed to estimate the heavy metals content in breast milk and identifyrelated factors. @*Methods@#Thirty-nine lactating mothers admitted to the postpartum care center in Changwon city betweenJuly 15 and September 20, 2019 were recruited. Barium, cadmium, cobalt, nickel, and lead concentrationsin breast milk were measured using an inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometer. Collecteddata were analyzed using independent t-test, 1-way analysis of variance, Mann-Whitney U-test,Kruskal-Wallis test, and Pearson correlation coefficients. @*Results@#The average concentration of heavy metals in breast milk (mg/kg) were as fellow barium, 3.68±1.29; cadmium, 0.03±0.06; cobalt, 0.10±0.19; nickel, 0.22±0.27; and lead, 0.13±0.26. There was a significantdifference between lead concentration and monthly household income (t=2.46, p=0.019). Therewas a difference between a family history of diabetes and hypertension and barium concentration (t=1.97,p=0.056) and between smoking history and nickel concentration (t=-1.95, p=0.058), but they were notstatistically significant. A significantly positive correlation was observed between cobalt and cadmiumconcentrations (r=0.93, p<0.001), and a significant negative correlation was observed between nickel andcadmium concentrations (r=-0.40, p=0.010) and cobalt concentration (r=-0.46, p=0.003). In addition,lead concentration showed a significant negative correlation with age (r=-0.39, p=0.013). @*Conclusions@#Guidelines for safe levels of heavy metals concentrations in breast milk need to be establishedand lactating mothers should consider the risk factors related to heavy metals poisoning such as dietaryintake, smoking, and alcohol consumption.