Essential and Toxic Elements in Infant Cereal in Brazil: Exposure Risk Assessment
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. Rice cereal is particularly concerning because it is immensely popular and usually contains high levels of inorganic arsenic. 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. We evaluated 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. 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 reduced by avoiding feeding these cereals to infants, and public policies could have a positive influence on risk management in this complex scenario.