Aluminium intake through the consumption of selected baby foods and risk characterization in a population of Brazilian infants aged 0 to 36 months

Abstract

Aluminium (Al) dietary intake from selected baby foods was estimated for Brazilian infants from the São Paulo State by means of a deterministic and a probabilistic estimation. The deterministic exposure assessment was carried out by combining mean levels of Al in 171 samples of baby foods (infant formula, meat/vegetable purees, fruit purees, petit-suisse and cereals), analytically determined by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry method, with individual food consumption data. Data on food consumption were generated using a duplicated 24 h recall applied to the parents of 158 infants aged from 0–36 months. The mean Al intakes for the total population, calculated using mean Al concentrations, were estimated to be 0.184 mg/kg body weight (bw) per week, whilst at 95th percentile, the obtained value was 0.474 mg/kg bw per week. In addition, distributions were fitted on the concentration and consumption data for further probabilistic intake estimations. The results corroborated well with the deterministic approach. The highest frequency and daily food consumption (in g/day) were observed for infant formulas and meat/vegetable purees, respectively. Boys presented higher frequency consumption of infant formulas, while meat/vegetable purees intake by girls was higher compared to boys. The baby food that most contributed to Al exposure in the total population, considering mean Al concentration values, was meat/vegetable purees, followed by infant formulas. This study suggests potential concern regarding consumers of highly Al contaminated products and may be used as a basis for the establishment of risk management actions.