Assessment of dietary exposure to PCDD/F and dioxin-like PCB in infant formulae available on the EU market

Abstract

In infant period, human milk and infant formulae are the major sources of exposure to dioxins (polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDD) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB). Since in many parts of Europe the mothers are increasingly reluctant to breastfeed their babies, the main objective of the present study is to assess the level of exposure of non-breast-fed infants during their early development. Consequently, the concentration levels of PCDD/F and dioxin-like PCB were determined in industrial infant formulae including “starting” (aged 0–4 months) and “follow-on” (after 4 months) products of milk formula, soy formula and hypoallergenic infant formula, available on the EU market. Furthermore, dietary exposure to dioxin of exclusively formula-fed infants was assessed at each month from 0 to 9 months. The results suggest that dietary exposure to dioxins via formulae is higher when consuming “starting” than “follow-on” infant formulae on a body-weight basis. Estimated dietary exposure after 4 months of age was always below the lowest range of the Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) of 1 pg WHO-TEQ kg −1 bw d −1 and Provisional Tolerable Monthly Intake (PTMI) of 70 pg WHO-TEQ kg −1 bw month −1. The highest estimated cumulative dietary exposure to PCDD/F and dioxin-like PCB was obtained considering infants of 0–1 months fed with the “starting” hypoallergenic infant formula (2.8 pg WHO-TEQ kg −1 bw d −1 and 84 pg WHO-TQ kg −1 bw month −1). However, these elevated levels are much lower than those observed in some studies in breast-fed infants. The study can be used for further risk assessments in regard to infant exposure.