The impact of environmental pollution on the quality of mother's milk

Martyna Pajewska-Szmyt,Elena Sinkiewicz-Darol,Renata Gadzała-Kopciuch

doi:10.1007/s11356-019-04141-1

Abstract

Breastfeeding is a gold standard of neonate nutrition because human milk contains a lot of essential compounds crucial for proper development of a child. However, milk is also a biofluid which can contain environmental pollution, which can have effects on immune system and consequently on the various body organs. Polychlorinated biphenyls are organic pollutants which have been detected in human milk. They have lipophilic properties, so they can penetrate to fatty milk and ultimately to neonate digestive track. Another problem of interest is the presence in milk of heavy metals—arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury—as these compounds can lead to disorders in production of cytokines, which are important immunomodulators. The toxicants cause stimulation or suppression of this compounds. This can lead to health problems in children as allergy, disorders in the endocrine system, end even neurodevelopment delay and disorder. Consequently, correlations between pollutants and bioactive components in milk should be investigated. This article provides an overview of environmental pollutants found in human milk as well as of the consequences of cytokine disorder correlated with presence of heavy metals.Graphical abstract

Highlights

A newborn child is exposed to many factors which may have negative impact on its health
There remains a question regarding pollutants in these capsules: Is oil derived from fish and enriched with omega-3 fatty acids a source of lipophilic impurities? if the oils have not been cleaned enough, the contents of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) or dioxins may exceed the limits, if the oils come from fish that are on the highest trophic level, for example, shark
In the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study conducted by Caspersen et al 2016a and Caspersen et al 2016b, the results show that low-level maternal exposure (PCB 153 was 0.8 ng/kg bw/day; range 0.1– 17) to PCB with six chlorine atoms such as 153 is associated with girls’ poorer expressive language skills in early life

Summary

Introduction

A newborn child is exposed to many factors which may have negative impact on its health. Monitoring mother’s milk is very important both in the search for compounds crucial for a developing organism and in testing for potential contaminants—environmental agents which can disrupt developmental process (Table 1) such as heavy metals, polychlorinated biphenyls, or dioxins (Rebelo and Caldas 2016; Urbaniak et al 2015 ). Persistent organic pollutants such as dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls are very hard to eliminate from the environment. Milk ingredients ensure proper growth and development of the baby, and due to their bioactive properties they contribute to and support defense mechanisms, and they are

Literature

12 PCBs 8 PCBs 18 PCBs

Findings

Conclusion