| Low Blood Lead Levels Do Not Appear to Be Further Reduced by Dietary Supplements Brian L. Gulson,1 Karen J. Mizon,1 Michael J. Korsch,2 and Alan J. Taylor3 1Graduate School of the Environment, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; 2Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Exploration and Mining, North Ryde, New South Wales, Australia; 3Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Abstract
Objective: Our objective was to evaluate the association of dietary intakes of selected micronutrients and blood lead (PbB) concentrations in female adults and in children. Design: With longitudinal monitoring, we measured daily intakes of the micronutrients calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, barium, strontium, phosphorus, zinc, iron (limited data) , and copper from 6-day duplicate diets (2–13 collections per individual) and PbB concentrations. Participants were three groups of females of child-bearing age (one cohort consisting of 21 pregnant subjects and 15 nonpregnant controls, a second cohort of nine pregnant migrants) , and one group of 10 children 6–11 years of age. Results: Mean PbB concentrations were < 5 µg/dL. A mixed linear model that included only group and time accounted for 5.9% of the variance of the PbB measurements ; neither the effect of time nor the effect of group was significant. The model containing all of the micronutrients (except iron, for which there was a great deal of missing data) , along with time and group, accounted for approximately 9.2% of the variance of PbB ; this increase was not statistically significant. There was, however, a significant association of PbB with phosphorus, magnesium, and copper when all micronutrients were included in the statistical analysis, perhaps reflecting a synergistic effect. Conclusions: In contrast to most previous studies, we found no statistically significant relationships between the PbB concentrations and micronutrient intake. In adults and older children with low PbB concentrations and minimal exposure to Pb, micronutrient supplementation is probably unnecessary. Key words: blood lead, children, diet, female adults, micronutrients. Environ Health Perspect 114: 1186–1192 (2006) . doi:10.1289/ehp.8605 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 18 April 2006]
Address correspondence to B. Gulson, Graduate School of the Environment, Macquarie University, Sydney NSW 2109 Australia. Telephone: 61-2-9850-7983. Fax: 61-2-9850-7972. E-mail: bgulson@gse.mq.edu.au We thank M. Salter for phlebotomy, and the participants in this study. This research was supported by the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NO1-ES-05292) . The authors declare they have no competing financial interests. Received 23 August 2005 ; accepted 18 April 2006. An erratum was published in Environ HealthPerspect 115:A3 (2007) .
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