Astonishingly high contamination of human breast milk and body fat with mineral paraffins: should we worry?

Abstract

Problem: Although widely used in cosmetics and the food processing industry the toxicologic effects of mineral paraffins are widely unknown. According to scientific literature specific mineral hydrocarbons lead to pathologic tissue reactions. Method: During the elective sectio caesarea of 144 probands 1g of abdominal fat tissue was sampled. On the 4. and 20. postpartal day 5–15 mL of breast milk where collected. The probands filled in a detailed questionnaire about personal data, use of cosmetic products and nutritional habits. A specialized liquid-gas-chromatographic method was used to analyze the mineral paraffin content of all samples. Results: An average mineral paraffin concentration of 60.7mg/kg (10–360mg/kg) was found. 80% of the concentrations ranged from 30 to 100mg/kg. Between the 4. and 20. postpartal day the mineral paraffin concentration decreased from an average of 47.99mg/kg (9–355mg/kg) to 26.13mg/kg (5–285mg/kg). Astonishingly the composition of the hydrocarbons was widely identical across all samples with a chromatographic center at C23/C24 and a chain length of C17 to C32. A multivariate analysis showed, that the mineral paraffin concentration in fat tissue samples correlated with the age (p<0.001), the BMI (p=0.014) and the use of hand lotions (p=0.003). No correlation with nutritional habits was found. Conclusion: Mineral paraffins where found to contaminate the human body significantly. During lactation mineral paraffins are transferred to the baby. The nearly identical composition in all analyzed fat tissue and breast milk samples suggests that a strict selection of mineral paraffins during accumulation took place.