Nutritional Interventions for Childhood Lead Exposure: The Need for More Consistent Public Health Messaging across the International Community

摘要

Childhood blood lead levels (BLLs) have been decreasing over the last few decades due to various policies countries have adopted that were helpful in reducing sources of exposure and by providing appropriate public health messaging surrounding the science. Despite this decrease in BLLs, many children across the globe are still exposed to a variety of lead sources including those from paint, battery recycling facilities and mining activities, and have associated health impacts. Public health messaging surrounding appropriate nutritional interventions for children exposed to lead are misleading for parents and caregivers, and should be enhanced to provide the public with more consistent messaging surrounding up-to-date science. An assessment of the literature using PubMed was conducted to examine the availability of international epidemiological studies on the association between children with elevated BLLs and nutrient intake. Furthermore, a review of nutritional interventions by various health agencies was examined to understand specific language provided to parents for children with elevated BLLs. Unfortunately, messaging regarding nutritional interventions and childhood lead exposure is not always backed by the most current scientific data. Additionally, outreach materials are either nonexistent or varied across the international community, creating very inconsistent messages for parents and caregivers. While some data exists to support a connection between good nutrition and mitigation of lead absorption, there is lack of evidence that supports a connection between nutrient consumption and removal of lead in the body, which should be clearly distinguished in outreach materials. To ensure appropriate delivery of accurate messaging surrounding nutritional interventions for childhood lead exposure across the globe, an international effort to improve messaging surrounding appropriate nutritional interventions for children exposed to lead should be considered.