Department of Chemistry and Nutrition, University of Brasilia, 70910-970 Brasilia DF, Brazil.
Environ Toxicol Pharmacol. 1998 Oct;6(2):71-9. doi: 10.1016/s1382-6689(98)00031-3.
Mercury pollution, due to gold mining has spread through the Amazon ecosystem reaching the food chain and affecting the indigenous people of the region. We studied the mercury contamination of 47 mothers and infants and the role of breast feeding in indices of mercury body burden in both groups, by measuring hair and milk Hg levels. Total mercury concentration of breast milk ranged from 0.0 to 24.8 (5.85, 5.2 S.D.) ng/g. Calculated levels of mercury exposure of breast fed babies indicated that 53% were above tolerable daily intakes (0.5 μg/kg body weight) recommended for adults by WHO. Mercury concentration in maternal hair was higher than in hair from breast-fed babies. Correlation analysis showed that mercury hair concentration in infants was significantly affected by maternal mercury contamination during pregnancy, but not during the post-natal breast-feeding period. The mercury concentration in milk was not significantly correlated with maternal or infant's hair Hg. A statistically significant correlation was found only between maternal and infant's hair mercury concentration (r=0.675; P=0.0001).
汞污染因金矿开采已蔓延至整个亚马逊生态系统，影响到该地区的土著人民。我们研究了 47 名母婴的汞污染情况，以及母乳喂养在两组人群中对汞体内负荷指数的作用，通过测量头发和母乳中的汞含量来实现。母乳中的总汞浓度范围为 0.0 至 24.8（5.85，5.2 个标准差）ng/g。计算出的母乳喂养婴儿的汞暴露水平表明，53%的婴儿超过了世界卫生组织（WHO）建议的成年人可耐受日摄入量（0.5μg/kg 体重）。母亲头发中的汞浓度高于母乳喂养婴儿的头发中的汞浓度。相关分析表明，婴儿头发中的汞浓度与母亲在怀孕期间的汞污染显著相关，但与产后母乳喂养期间的汞污染不相关。母乳中的汞浓度与母亲或婴儿的头发汞含量无显著相关性。仅发现母亲和婴儿头发中的汞浓度之间存在统计学上显著的相关性（r=0.675；P=0.0001）。
