ALUMINUM LEVELS IN BREAST-MILK AND INFANT FORMULAS IN JAPAN

Aluminum was measured in 68 breast milk samples from 36 healthy mothers, in the San-in District in Japan, and in 24 cans from five brands of infant formulae on sale, by the graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. The mean +/- SD (range) concentration in breast milk was 1.6 +/- 1.2 mumol/l (0.15 - 8.1 mumol/l) for the total samples. The mean +/- SD (median) concentrations for 29 pairs of samples at the set of postpartum periods around 1 week and 1 month were 1.8 +/- 1.4 mumol/l (1.5 mumol/l) and 1.2 +/- 0.89 mumol/l (0.93 mumol/l), respectively. Statistically significant difference was not found between the mean concentrations. The mean concentrations of aluminum in the milk-based infant formulae for normal infants from the five brands on sale were 0.019, 0.039, 0.012, 0.010 and 0.014 mumol/g and compared with the data of breast milk. When diluted with deionized water according to the directions, the mean concentrations in infant formulae were situated somewhere between the mean +/- 1SD concentrations of breast milk, with the exception of one brand's concentration (5.5 mumol/l).