Closer to zero impacts of dietary toxic metals on critical developmental windows

Infants and children are particularly vulnerable in terms of food safety.

The overall purpose of this 3-year project is to establish a scientific basis for a Swedish action plan to reduce toxic metals in food towards background levels.

Like recently proposed by the US food and drug administration in their Closer to zero action plan, we prioritize arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury, but also fluoride and manganese, all of which have been detected in food and/or water and associated with impaired child development at fairly low exposure levels.

This will be accomplished by measurements of metals in foods directed towards infants on the Swedish market, in combination with measuring well establish biomarkers of metal exposures and identifying major dietary sources in infants and young children (1, 1.5 and 4-year old’s) in the NICE cohort (n≈ 550) in northern Sweden and in Riksmaten young children (n=300) in middle and southern Sweden.

Detailed dietary data is collected via food frequency questionnaires and food diaries.

The exposure to metal mixtures at 4-years will also be related to data on child growth obtained from pediatric records using statistical models for mixtures, and we will conduct a scoping review on early childhood metal exposure and child growth.

This will provide a strong scientific foundation for authorities in their work towards minimizing the exposure to metals via food through improved guidelines and policies to ensure the health of future generations.