Bioaccessibility data of potentially toxic elements in complementary foods for infants: A review.

The introduction of complementary foods (CFs) is a critical step in an infant's transition to solid foods, providing essential nutrients beyond breast milk. However, CFs may contain potentially toxic elements (PTEs), such as arsenic and cadmium that pose health risks to infants. In this context, understanding the bioaccessibility of PTEs is vital as it determines the fraction of a contaminant released from the food matrix and available for absorption in the gastrointestinal tract. Efforts have been made to standardize the assessment methodology for bioaccessibility, ensuring consistent and reliable data. Moreover, regulatory agencies have established guidelines for PTEs levels in food. However, important gaps still exist, which motivates many research opportunities on this topic.

Occurrence and infant exposure assessment of nitrates in baby foods marketed in the region of Lisbon, Portugal.

Commercial baby food labelled as from organic or conventional origin, including vegetable-based baby foods, fruit purees and fruit juices (n = 80), were analysed for nitrate content by an in-house validated HPLC method. Nitrate contents ranged from 5 to 230 mg kg(-1) with a mean concentration of 102 mg kg(-1) for vegetable-based baby foods, and a median of 5 mg kg(-1) for both fruit purees and juices. One sample of vegetable-based baby food was higher than the legislated value (200 mg kg(-1)). There were no significant differences between average nitrate levels in analysed samples regarding both farming systems. The estimated nitrate intake through baby foods for a mean nitrate concentration of 47 mg kg(-1) ranged between 0.5 (15% of ADI) and 1.3 mg kg(-1) bw day(-1) (35% of ADI). The ADI level was exceeded (107-146% of ADI) only for the 95th and 99th percentiles of nitrate concentration.