Background: The presence of perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) in breast milk has been documented, but their lactational transfer has been rarely studied. Determination of the elimination rates of these chemicals during breastfeeding is important and critical for assessing exposure in mothers and infants.
Objectives: We aimed to investigate the association between breastfeeding and maternal serum concentrations of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), and perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS). For a subset of the population, for whom we also have their infants’ measurements, we investigated associations of breastfeeding with infant serum PFAA concentrations.
Methods: The present analysis included 633 women from the C8 Science Panel Study who had a child < 3.5 years of age and who provided blood samples and reported detailed information on breastfeeding at the time of survey. PFAA serum concentrations were available for all mothers and 8% (n = 49) of the infants. Maternal and infant serum concentrations were regressed on duration of breastfeeding.
Results: Each month of breastfeeding was associated with lower maternal serum concentrations of PFOA (–3%; 95% CI: –5, –2%), PFOS (–3%; 95% CI: –3, –2%), PFNA (–2%; 95% CI: –2, –1%), and PFHxS (–1%; 95% CI: –2, 0%). The infant PFOA and PFOS serum concentrations were 6% (95% CI: 1, 10%) and 4% (95% CI: 1, 7%) higher per month of breastfeeding.
Conclusions: Breast milk is the optimal food for infants, but is also a PFAA excretion route for lactating mothers and exposure route for nursing infants.
1London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; 2School of Environment and Life Sciences, University of Salford, Salford, United Kingdom; 3Center for Environmental Research and Children’s Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA; 4Spanish Consortium for Research on Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP) and Center for Public Health Research (CSISP), Valencia, Spain; 5School of Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California, USA
Recommended Citation:
Debapriya Mondal,1,2 Rosana Hern,et al. Breastfeeding: A Potential Excretion Route for Mothers and Implications for Infant Exposure to Perfluoroalkyl Acids[J]. Environmental Health Perspectives,2014-01-01,Volume 122(Issue 2):187