Low dietary quality is related to high blood lead concentration in school aged children

Abstract

Lead is a toxic metal widely spread in the environment with bioaccumulative features that raises public health concern. Diet might be associated with blood lead concentration in children. In order to evaluate the association between dietary intake and blood lead concentration, a cross‐sectional study was conducted on 2,050 children aged 7 to 8 years residing in urban areas in Korea while assessing dietary intake by a semi‐quantitative food frequency questionnaire and blood lead concentration by the graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Children were divided into high (n=617) and low (n=1,433) lead groups using a 2 μg/dl cutoff point. In multivariate logistic regression analyses, higher intakes of vegetable protein and iron, phosphorous, potassium, zinc, folic acid and vitamin E were related to lower blood lead concentration. Blood lead concentration was associated positively with intakes of white rice, ramyun, salted vegetables, ice cream and soft drink, and negatively with mixed rice, spinach, seaweed, fruits, and white milk consumptions. These findings suggest low dietary quality may be a risk factor for high blood lead concentration in children. (Supported by a grant from the Ministry of Environment, Korea in 2006)