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Mercury Concentration in the Breast Milk of Iranian Women

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Abstract

Human milk is usually the only source of food for infants during the first 4 to 5 months of their life. In this research, 80 human milk samples were collected from mothers in Tehran, Noushahr and the countryside of Tabriz, Iran, who were not occupationally exposed to mercury. The mean concentration of mercury in breast milk obtained from mothers in the countryside of Tabriz, Noushahr and Tehran was 0.86, 0.15 and 0.12 μg/L, respectively. There was a significant difference in mercury concentration in human breast milk between that from the countryside of Tabriz with that from Tehran and Noushahr. Only 3.7% of infant samples (three infants) had mercury concentration higher than normal versus the WHO recommended limit (0.5 μg g−1). The fish consumption of these mothers in Tehran and Noushahr was a factor that significantly affected the mercury concentration in their breast milk. Also, their age affected the mercury levels in breast milk (p = 0.04).

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. Alipor, Mrs. Safora Dahmardeh Behrooz and Faride Naghdi and Zahra Shokri for providing the lactating women's list of names and collection in Noushar, Tehran and the countryside of Tabriz Central Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hamun International Wetland Research Institute, Zabol University, Zabol, Iran

    Reza Dahmardeh Behrooz & Fatemeh Einollahi Peer

  2. Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural Resources, Zabol University, Zabol, Sistan, Iran

    Reza Dahmardeh Behrooz & Fatemeh Einollahi Peer

  3. Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural Resources and Marine Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Noor, Mazandaran, Iran

    Abbas Esmaili-Sari & Malihe Amini

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  1. Reza Dahmardeh Behrooz
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  2. Abbas Esmaili-Sari
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Correspondence to Reza Dahmardeh Behrooz.

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Dahmardeh Behrooz, R., Esmaili-Sari, A., Peer, F.E. et al. Mercury Concentration in the Breast Milk of Iranian Women. Biol Trace Elem Res 147, 36–43 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-011-9283-7

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