Mission: To understand the contribution of diet on arsenic (As) exposure in infants.

Recent data, including data from the Center scientists' own laboratories, indicate rice as a prominent contributor to dietary arsenic exposure. Feeding and weaning habits may create the opportunity for increased arsenic exposure in infants during the transition to solid foods; this may be particularly critical to those with naturally elevated arsenic in their drinking water.

Project 2 (Pilot), like Project 1, builds upon a pregnancy cohort study (The New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study) and explores the dietary sources of arsenic in infants from birth to age 1. Project 2 is in the process of formulating reliable estimates of arsenic exposure from food to look at how exposure may differ between breastfed and formula-fed infants.

Project 2 has developed a three-day food diary to collect detailed information about infant diet at key time points during development. Information about breast milk and/or milk formula consumption, cereals, solids and water consumption is currently being collected in collaboration with Project 1 from women enrolled in The New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study. We are also collecting urine samples from the infants when they are 6 weeks old and 12 months old; a subsample of breastfeeding women who are pumping breast milk for their infant is providing breast milk samples for arsenic analysis. Project 2 will collect a nail sample from both mother and infant at 12 months of age, and a food-frequency questionnaire to gather information about maternal diet during the infant's first year of life. Data on arsenic metabolites in urine will be used to understand the ability of the infant to metabolize arsenic. Market basket studies on arsenic in infant formulas, rice cereals, and early stage foods have identified potential sources of infant arsenic exposure. Data gathered from this project will help scientists make informed dietary recommendations for infants and their mothers.