Toledo Michele C, Lee Janice S, Batista Bruno Lemos, Olympio Kelly P K, Nardocci Adelaide C
School of Public Health, University of São Paulo, São Paulo 01246-904, SP, Brazil.
United States Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2024 Mar 22;21(4):381. doi: 10.3390/ijerph21040381.
Infant cereals, one of the first solid foods introduced to infants, have been reported to pose risks to human health because they contain toxic elements and an excess of essential elements. The objective of this study was to assess the cancer and non-cancer risk of exposure to essential and toxic elements in infant cereal in Brazil. In our analyses, we included data from 18 samples of infant cereals made from different raw materials and estimated the incremental lifetime cancer risks and non-cancer hazard quotients (HQs) for their consumption. Rice cereal is particularly concerning because it is immensely popular and usually contains high levels of inorganic arsenic. In addition to arsenic, we assessed aluminum, boron, barium, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, manganese, nickel, selenium, silver, strontium, and zinc. The cancer risk was highest for rice cereal, which was also found to have an HQ > 1 for most of the tested elements. Inorganic As was the element associated with the highest cancer risk in infant cereal. All of the infant cereals included in this research contained at least one element with an HQ > 1. The essential and non-essential elements that presented HQ > 1 more frequently were zinc and cadmium, respectively. The cancer and non-cancer risks could potentially be decreased by reducing the amount of toxic and essential elements (when in excess), and public policies could have a positive influence on risk management in this complex scenario.
婴儿谷物是最早引入婴儿的固体食物之一，据报道因其含有有毒元素和过量的必需元素而对人体健康构成风险。本研究的目的是评估巴西婴儿谷物中必需元素和有毒元素暴露的癌症风险和非癌症风险。在我们的分析中，我们纳入了来自18种不同原材料制成的婴儿谷物样本的数据，并估计了食用这些谷物的终生癌症增量风险和非癌症危害商数（HQs）。米粉尤其令人担忧，因为它非常受欢迎且通常含有高水平的无机砷。除了砷，我们还评估了铝、硼、钡、镉、铬、铜、铅、锰、镍、硒、银、锶和锌。米粉的癌症风险最高，并且还发现大多数测试元素的危害商数>1。无机砷是婴儿谷物中与最高癌症风险相关的元素。本研究中纳入的所有婴儿谷物都至少含有一种危害商数>1的元素。危害商数>1出现频率更高的必需元素和非必需元素分别是锌和镉。通过减少有毒元素和必需元素（过量时）的含量，癌症和非癌症风险可能会降低，并且在这种复杂情况下，公共政策可能会对风险管理产生积极影响。
