Ricerc@Sapienza

Milk contains a variety of nutrients and is long associated with a number of health benefits. It is rich in high-quality proteins and important vitamins and minerals, including calcium, phosphorus and B vitamins. Recently, however, some people have started to avoid milk due to health problems, such as dietary restrictions, allergies and intolerances, and ethical issues regarding the use of animals. As a result, various types of non-standard dairy milk and nondairy milk beverages are now available (goat milk, donkey milk, soy milk, rice milk, almond milk, oat milk etc.).

Breast milk, the first and irreplaceable source of nourishment for the infant, and the wellbeing of both the mother and baby are increasingly threatened by contamination from environmental toxic agents. In particular, elements can be used as good indicators/tracers of environmental and food contamination. In turn, as well as urine [1–3], and serum [4], breast milk can be considered as suitable biological matrix for biomonitoring studies.

Breast milk guarantees all the nutrients required by infants during their first few months of life and remains the most important food source for their health and growth. However, the mother may transfer potentially toxic chemicals to the suckling infant through breastfeeding. The aim of this study was to optimize and validate a fast method for the determination of a total content of 34 elements (Al, As, B, Ba, Be, Bi, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cs, Cu, Fe, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, P, Pb, Rb, Sb, Se, Si, Sn, Sr, Te, Ti, Tl, U, V, and Zn) in liquid and lyophilized breast milk.