Cadmium quantification in Brazilian mothers colostrum: a regional study

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: to estimate the amount of cadmium in human colostrum of mothers from Taubaté. METHODS: it was a cross-sectional study with mothers who delivered in University Hospital of Taubaté, in year 2003. The colostrum was collected in special tubes, one day after the delivery and frozen at -200 C. The independent variables were maternal age, birthweight, gestational age, parity, dietary habits, smoking report and maternal occupation. Cadmium was quantified by atomic absorption spectrometry. It was used Mann-Whitney non-parametric approach to compare mean values; Pearson correlation was also used to verify associations. The level of significance was alpha = 5%. RESULTS: the mean value of cadmium was 54.5 mg/L (sd=381.0 mg/L). Cadmium was detected in 18 out of 58 samples (31.0%). There was neither correlation nor differences between the cadmium values and the independent variables maternal age, birthweight, gestational age, parify and smoking report. CONCLUSIONS: these values are above those the amounts described in other papers and it is important to identify the possible sources of this heavy metal in maternal environment.