Chemical Contaminants in Raw and Pasteurized Human Milk

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Jennifer C. Hartle, San Jose State University; Ronald S. Cohen, Stanford University; Pauline Sakamoto, Mothers Milk Bank; Dana Boyd Barr, Emory University; Suzan L. Carmichael, Stanford University
• Language: English
• Date: 2018-05-01
• Publisher: SAGE Publications (UK and US)
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © The Author(s) 2018.
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0890334418759308
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Journal of Human Lactation
• ISSN: 0890-3344
• Volume: 34
• Issue: 2
• Start Page: 340
• End Page: 349
• Grant/Funding Information: Research funding was provided for Pauline Sakamoto by the Mother’s Milk Bank of San José.; Research funding was provided for Dana Boyd Barr by Emory University’s HERCULES Center (NIEHS Grant P30 ES019776).
• Keywords: human milk; BISPHENOL-A; milk bank; INFANT EXPOSURE; POLYBROMINATED DIPHENYL ETHERS; Pediatrics; Science & Technology; HUMAN BREAST-MILK; Obstetrics & Gynecology; SERUM; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Nursing; TANDEM MASS-SPECTROMETRY; RISK-ASSESSMENT; PESTICIDES; PBDES; PHTHALATE METABOLITES
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Obstetrics and Gynecology; Health Sciences, Public Health; Environmental Sciences

Abstract

Background: Environmental contaminants ranging from legacy chemicals like p,p’-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) to emerging chemicals like phthalates are ubiquitous. Research aims/questions: This research aims to examine the presence and co-occurrence of contaminants in human milk and effects of pasteurization on human milk chemical contaminants. Methods: We analyzed human milk donated by 21 women to a milk bank for 23 chemicals, including the persistent organic pollutants (POPs) polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), and dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) isomers that are known to sequester in adipose tissue, along with the current-use and nonpersistent pesticides chlorpyrifos and permethrin, phthalates, and bisphenol A (BPA). Human milk was analyzed raw and pasteurized for these chemicals using gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry for the POPs and high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry for non-POPs. Results: Within the different chemical classes, PBDE47, PCB153, ppDDE, and MEHHP (phthalate metabolite) had the highest median concentrations and were observed in all samples. We also observed chlorpyrifos and BPA in all samples and permethrin in 90% of the samples tested. Only two chemicals, chlorpyrifos and permethrin, were susceptible to substantial degradation from pasteurization, a standard method for processing donated human milk. Conclusion: We detected 19 of 23 chemicals in all of our prepasteurized milk and 18 of 23 chemicals in all of our pasteurized milk. Pasteurization did not affect the presence of most of the chemicals. Future research should continue to explore human milk for potential chemical contamination and as a means to surveil exposures among women and children.