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 The powder and water used to make the baby formula may be sources of
arsenic, which occurs naturally in the environment and in large
doses is linked to serious health problems, the researchers write in
the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
It's not clear, however, whether the low levels of arsenic exposure
in the study will turn out to be harmful, the researchers say.
Parents who need to use formula to feed their infants shouldn’t feel
badly about the new findings, said Kathryn Cottingham, one of the
study’s lead authors. Instead, they should pay attention to the
water they’re using to make baby formula.
“People who don’t know what’s going on in their water should test
their water,” said Cottingham, who works at the Center for
Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research at
Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.
She and her coauthors note that arsenic occurs naturally in bedrock
and is a common contaminant of well water. While the U.S. regulates
how much arsenic is allowed in public drinking water, there’s no
regulation of private wells. And in New Hampshire, where this study
was done, private wells supply water to 40 percent of the
population. About one in 10 wells in the state have arsenic levels
higher than the 10 micrograms per liter that's allowed in public
drinking water.
Past research has shown that breast milk doesn’t contain high levels
of arsenic, even when mothers have been exposed to high levels of
the element.
Baby formula powder, however, may have low levels of naturally
occurring arsenic, the researchers say.
For the new study, the researchers analyzed urine samples from
six-week-old babies of New Hampshire women who were pregnant and
recruited for the study starting in January 2009.
Out of the 72 babies in the study, 70 percent received only breast
milk, 13 percent received only formula and 17 percent received a
combination of the two.
“Overall, exposure levels in this age group are low and that’s great
news,” Cottingham said.
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They did find that infants fed only formula had the highest
concentrations of arsenic in their urine, followed by those who
received formula and breast milk. Exclusively breastfed infants had
the lowest levels of arsenic in their urine.
Based on samples of the participants’ tap water and published data,
the researchers say about 70 percent of the arsenic exposure in
their study came from the formula powder.
“In conclusion, our findings suggest that breastfed infants have
lower exposure to arsenic than formula-fed infants, even when
drinking water arsenic concentrations are low,” the researchers
write.
They also caution that their study has limitations, including not
having enough information to make estimates of arsenic exposure for
individual infants. They also only had a handful of babies fed
exclusively formula.
Cottingham also said they can’t say that formula-fed infants or
those exposed to higher levels of arsenic will have worse health
outcomes later in life.
“As the (group of babies) ages, we’ll be able to follow and see if
there are any associations with that time period,” she said.
SOURCE: http://1.usa.gov/1BCvql4
Environmental Health Perspectives, online February 23, 2015.
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