ReviewEnvironmental health perspectives2018
Infant Dietary Exposures to Environmental Chemicals and Infant/Child Health: A Critical Assessment of the Literature.
Review in Environmental health perspectives, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 25 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 64 citations in OpenAlex.
- Bioavailability of and US Infant Exposure to Arsenic, Cadmium, Lead, Mercury, and Per- and Polyfluoroalkyls from Human Milk and Infant Formula: Results from a Series of Systematic Reviews.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2026Pooled it
- Public health evaluation of PFAS exposures and breastfeeding: a systematic literature review.Toxicological sciences : an official journal of the Society of Toxicology · 2023Pooled it
- Nurturing People and Planet: Breastfeeding in Climate Mitigation and Adaptation.Frontiers in sustainable food systems · 2026Article
- Early-Life Exposures, Neurodevelopment, and Health Outcomes: Protocol for a Birth Cohort Study.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- Early-Life Hydrogen Sulfide Signaling as a Target for Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic Syndrome Reprogramming.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Antioxidants, Gut Microbiota, and Cardiovascular Programming: Unraveling a Triad of Early-Life Interactions.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Examining risk assessment implications of genetic and dose-dependent dynamics of lead exposure in breastfeeding using the collaborative cross mouse population.Toxicological sciences : an official journal of the Society of Toxicology · 2025Article
- Breastfeeding and Future Cardiovascular, Kidney, and Metabolic Health-A Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2025Review
- Animal Models for Studying Developmental Origins of Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic Syndrome.Biomedicines · 2025Review
- Associations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances with human milk metabolomic profiles in a rural North American cohort.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2024Article
- Pollutants in Breast Milk: A Scoping Review of the Most Recent Data in 2024.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Metabolomic and exposomic biomarkers of risk of future neurodevelopmental delay in human milk.Pediatric research · 2023Article
- Invited Perspective: PFAS in Breast Milk and Infant Formula-It's Time to Start Monitoring.Environmental health perspectives · 2023Article
- Black carbon particles in human breast milk: assessing infant's exposure.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Current knowledge on the effects of environmental contaminants in early life nutrition.Frontiers in nutrition · 2023Review
- Perspective: Human Milk Composition and Related Data for National Health and Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2022Article
- Current Breast Milk PFAS Levels in the United States and Canada: After All This Time, Why Don't We Know More?Environmental health perspectives · 2022Article
- Health Risk Assessment of Trace Metals Through Breast Milk Consumption in Saudi Arabia.Biological trace element research · 2021Article
- Bisphenol A Exposure in Exclusively Breastfed Infants and Lactating Women: An Observational Cross-sectional StudyJournal of clinical research in pediatric endocrinology · 2021Observational
- Cutaneous Effects of In Utero and Lactational Exposure of C57BL/6J Mice to 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-Toxics · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe benefits of breastfeeding to the infant and mother have been well documented. It is also well known that breast milk contains environmental chemicals, and numerous epidemiological studies have explored relationships between background levels of chemicals in breast milk and health outcomes in infants and children.
objectivesIn this paper, we examine epidemiological literature to address the following question: Are infant exposures to background levels of environmental chemicals in breast milk and formula associated with adverse health effects? We critically review this literature a) to explore whether exposure-outcome associations are observed across studies, and b) to assess the literature quality.
methodsWe reviewed literature identified from electronic literature searches. We explored whether exposure-outcome associations are observed across studies by assessing the quality (using a modified version of a previously published quality assessment tool), consistency, and strengths and weaknesses in the literature. The epidemiological literature included cohorts from several countries and examined infants/children either once or multiple times over weeks to years. Health outcomes included four broad categories: growth and maturation, morbidity, biomarkers, and neurodevelopment.
resultsThe available literature does not provide conclusive evidence of consistent or clinically relevant health consequences to infants exposed to environmental chemicals in breast milk at background levels.
conclusionsIt is clear that more research would better inform our understanding of the potential for health impacts from infant dietary exposures to environmental chemicals. A critical data gap is a lack of research on environmental chemicals in formula and infant/child health outcomes. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP1954.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.