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Nutritional Epidemiology

Maternal Dietary Intake of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Modifies the Relationship between Lead Levels in Bone and Breast Milk^1,2

³ Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115; ⁴ Population Oral Health, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia 2006; ⁵ Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115; ⁶ Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI 48109; ⁷ Program in Public Health Nutrition, Department of Nutrition and ⁸ Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115; ⁹ Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Cuernavaca, Morelos, México 62508; and ¹⁰ Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: marora{at}hsph.harvard.edu.

Whereas dietary fats are known to influence bone mineral density, little is known about their effect on the skeletal stores of lead that are a pervasive source of fetal and infant lead exposure from heightened mobilization during pregnancy and lactation. This cross-sectional study examined the potential influence of maternal dietary intake of saturated and unsaturated fats on the relationship of lead levels in bone and breast milk during lactation. Lead was measured in blood, breast milk, and bone (patella and tibia) at 1 mo postpartum in 310 women in Mexico City. Dietary nutrient intake was assessed using a validated FFQ. Multivariate linear regression analyses were used to study the influence of dietary saturated and unsaturated fats on the association between bone and breast milk lead. In multivariate models that included both the dietary intake of SFA and PUFA, an interquartile range increase in patella lead [20 µg/g (0.097 µmol/g)] was associated with a 24% (95% CI = 5–43) higher increase in breast milk lead in women in the lowest tertile of PUFA intake compared with those in the highest tertile of PUFA intake. Monounsaturated fatty acids did not modify the relationship between lead levels in patella and breast milk. In conclusion, higher maternal dietary intake of PUFA may limit the transfer of lead from bone to breast milk.