Project Materials

ANALYSIS OF HEAVY METALS IN FIVE DIFFERENT BABY FOODS

Chapter one

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Infant formulas, as dietary supplements, play a vital role in infant meals by providing the body with minerals and vitamins in higher quantities. Because infant milk is generally obtained from animals or plants, it is predominantly milk, soya, or cereal based.

Infant formula contains nearly all of the nutrients found in breast milk, yet it is difficult to create a formula that is identical to breast milk in all ways.

Infant formula milk has been contaminated by a variety of compounds, including nitrates, nitrites, aluminium, cadmium, mercury, nickel, lead, and melamine (Akan et al., 2010). The water used to reconstitute newborn formula milk may also contain pollutants such as lead and nitrate ions.

Melamine poisoning of newborn formula milk in China caused several children to die and become unwell in 2008. Other recalls of newborn formula milk in the developed world have been reported due to vitamin deficiencies and contamination.

In 2006, Mead Johnson & Company cancelled a batch of newborn formula milk due to metal particle contamination (Ayivor et al. 2011). A study comparing the concentrations of selected trace and toxic elements in breast milk and infant formula milk found that infant formula milk had tenfold higher concentrations than breast milk, confirming infant formula milk as a source of toxic elements for infants (IOM, 2010).