Dietary predictors of exposure to multiple toxic metals in school age children

Abstract

Food could play a role in children's toxicant exposure, but intake of specific nutrients could be protective. We studied food groups, food patterns, and nutrient intake in relation to urinary biomarkers of antimony (Sb), cadmium (Cd), uranium (U), lead (Pb) and cobalt (Co) in a cross‐sectional study of 328 Uruguayan children (6.7±0.5 y; 55% boys). Metals in urine were measured with ICP‐MS. Dietary factors were derived from 2 non‐consecutive 24‐hr recalls completed by mothers. Metal exposure was low. A single factor (Eigenvalue 1.1) of multiple exposure was identified with factor loadings >0.40 for Sb, Cd, U, Pb and >0.20 for Co. Higher scores were associated with family cultivating or consuming homegrown produce (β [95% CI]: 0.3 [0.1, 0.5]). In OLS models adjusted for home produce cultivation, school location, maternal education and employment, above‐median dairy consumption (−0.1 [−0.3, 0.0] and protein intake (−0.2 [−0.4, 0.0]) were each related with lower exposure factor score. Diet is not a major source of children's exposure to metals. Benefits of higher dairy/protein intake need to be investigated further.Support or Funding InformationNIEHS, R21 ES019949, 1R21 ES16523‐01