Dietary chromium intake of lactating Finnish mothers: effect on the Cr content of their breast milk.

1. The chromium in the diets of lactating Finnish mothers and of their breast milk was determined by graphite furnace atomic absorption. 2. The average maternal diet was estimated to provide approximately 30 micrograms Cr/d. Breast milk samples has a mean Cr content of 0.4 ng/ml, with a range of 0.19-0.69 ng/ml. 3. Cr intake of the lactating mothers did not correlate with the corresponding breast milk Cr concentration. 4. The diets and the breast milk of these Finnish mothers were lower in Cr than those of any other population studied in the world.