Clinics in Mother and Child Health

Abstract

Determination of the Average Daily Intake of Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) in Breastfed Babies in Vali-Asr Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences

Hosein Dalili, Fatemeh Nayeri, Mamak Shariat, Vafa Ghorbansabagh and Zeinab Kavyani

Objective: Breast milk is rich in fat. Toxins, pollutants, drugs, and allergens, especially lipophilic toxins may accumulate in the breast milk; therefore, it can serve as potential source for transferring these toxins to the baby. Dioxins, including polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) are among these pollutants. The aim of this study was to determine the average daily intake of PCBs in breastfed babies.
Materials and methods: Fifty breast milk samples were collected from breastfeeding mothers whose babies were born in Vali-Asr Hospital, Tehran, Iran in 2014. Each sample was 20 cc and collected within the first 7 days after delivery. PCBs were measured using the GCMass method. We calculated the ADI based on ng/kg/day and compared it with tolerable daily intake (TDI). TDI was considered 20 ng/kg/day according to WHO.
Results: The mean PCB concentration was 250.65 ng/gl.w in the collected samples. Among the 6 isomers measured, the concentration of PCB180
Conclusion: Studies in different countries have shown different PCB concentrations in the breast milk. What is interesting is a decrease in the concentration of pollutants in recent years. A decrease has also been noted in Iran, as well. Since breast milk is still the first and the best source of nutrition for new-born infants, more efforts are needed to reduce the amount of pollutants in the breast milk. Since PCB enters the body via inhalation and dermal contact and stores in the fat tissue, and foods like fish, eggs, dairy products, and meat of wild animals are more likely to transfer this compound to the human body, it is important to control the quality of food products especially in pregnant women.