Effects of breast feeding on neuropsychological development in a community with methylmercury exposure from seafood
Breastfeeding has been associated with an advantage to infant neurobehavioral development, possibly in part due to essential nutrients in breast milk. However, breast milk may be contaminated by environmental neurotoxicants, such as methylmercury. In the Faroe Islands, where maternal consumption of...
Published in: | Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology |
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ftsydanskunivpub:oai:sdu.dk:publications/6bfde36a-fc8d-4e56-a96a-b2b58cc07b5f 2023-05-15T16:10:55+02:00 Effects of breast feeding on neuropsychological development in a community with methylmercury exposure from seafood Jensen, Tina Kold Grandjean, Philippe Jørgensen, Esben Budtz White, Roberta F Debes, Frodi Weihe, Pál 2005 https://portal.findresearcher.sdu.dk/da/publications/6bfde36a-fc8d-4e56-a96a-b2b58cc07b5f https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jea.7500420 eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess Jensen , T K , Grandjean , P , Jørgensen , E B , White , R F , Debes , F & Weihe , P 2005 , ' Effects of breast feeding on neuropsychological development in a community with methylmercury exposure from seafood ' , Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology , vol. 15 , no. 5 , pp. 423-30 . https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jea.7500420 Adult Animals Atlantic Ocean Breast Feeding Child Child Development Preschool Cognition Disorders Environmental Exposure Female Fetal Blood Food Contamination Geography Hair Humans Infant Infant Welfare Newborn Intelligence Tests Longitudinal Studies Male Methylmercury Compounds Neuropsychological Tests Seafood Whales article 2005 ftsydanskunivpub https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jea.7500420 2022-08-14T08:37:25Z Breastfeeding has been associated with an advantage to infant neurobehavioral development, possibly in part due to essential nutrients in breast milk. However, breast milk may be contaminated by environmental neurotoxicants, such as methylmercury. In the Faroe Islands, where maternal consumption of pilot whale may cause transfer of marine toxicants into breast milk, a cohort of 1022 consecutive singleton births was generated during 1986-87. Methylmercury exposure was assessed from mercury concentrations in cord blood and in the hair of the child at age 12 months, and the duration of breastfeeding was recorded. At approximately 7 years of age, 917 (90%) of the children underwent detailed neurobehavioral examination. After adjustment for confounders, breastfeeding was associated with only marginally better neuropsychological performance on most tests. These associations were robust even after adjustment for cord-blood and hair mercury concentration at age 1 year. Thus, in this cohort of children with a relatively high prenatal toxicant exposure and potential exposure to neurotoxicants through breast milk, breastfeeding was associated with less benefits on neurobehavioral development than previously published studies though not associated with a deficit in neuropsychological performance at age 7. Although the advantage may be less, Faroese women can still safely breastfeed their children. Article in Journal/Newspaper Faroe Islands University of Southern Denmark Research Portal Faroe Islands Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology 15 5 423 430 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Southern Denmark Research Portal |
op_collection_id |
ftsydanskunivpub |
language |
English |
topic |
Adult Animals Atlantic Ocean Breast Feeding Child Child Development Preschool Cognition Disorders Environmental Exposure Female Fetal Blood Food Contamination Geography Hair Humans Infant Infant Welfare Newborn Intelligence Tests Longitudinal Studies Male Methylmercury Compounds Neuropsychological Tests Seafood Whales |
spellingShingle |
Adult Animals Atlantic Ocean Breast Feeding Child Child Development Preschool Cognition Disorders Environmental Exposure Female Fetal Blood Food Contamination Geography Hair Humans Infant Infant Welfare Newborn Intelligence Tests Longitudinal Studies Male Methylmercury Compounds Neuropsychological Tests Seafood Whales Jensen, Tina Kold Grandjean, Philippe Jørgensen, Esben Budtz White, Roberta F Debes, Frodi Weihe, Pál Effects of breast feeding on neuropsychological development in a community with methylmercury exposure from seafood |
topic_facet |
Adult Animals Atlantic Ocean Breast Feeding Child Child Development Preschool Cognition Disorders Environmental Exposure Female Fetal Blood Food Contamination Geography Hair Humans Infant Infant Welfare Newborn Intelligence Tests Longitudinal Studies Male Methylmercury Compounds Neuropsychological Tests Seafood Whales |
description |
Breastfeeding has been associated with an advantage to infant neurobehavioral development, possibly in part due to essential nutrients in breast milk. However, breast milk may be contaminated by environmental neurotoxicants, such as methylmercury. In the Faroe Islands, where maternal consumption of pilot whale may cause transfer of marine toxicants into breast milk, a cohort of 1022 consecutive singleton births was generated during 1986-87. Methylmercury exposure was assessed from mercury concentrations in cord blood and in the hair of the child at age 12 months, and the duration of breastfeeding was recorded. At approximately 7 years of age, 917 (90%) of the children underwent detailed neurobehavioral examination. After adjustment for confounders, breastfeeding was associated with only marginally better neuropsychological performance on most tests. These associations were robust even after adjustment for cord-blood and hair mercury concentration at age 1 year. Thus, in this cohort of children with a relatively high prenatal toxicant exposure and potential exposure to neurotoxicants through breast milk, breastfeeding was associated with less benefits on neurobehavioral development than previously published studies though not associated with a deficit in neuropsychological performance at age 7. Although the advantage may be less, Faroese women can still safely breastfeed their children. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jensen, Tina Kold Grandjean, Philippe Jørgensen, Esben Budtz White, Roberta F Debes, Frodi Weihe, Pál |
author_facet |
Jensen, Tina Kold Grandjean, Philippe Jørgensen, Esben Budtz White, Roberta F Debes, Frodi Weihe, Pál |
author_sort |
Jensen, Tina Kold |
title |
Effects of breast feeding on neuropsychological development in a community with methylmercury exposure from seafood |
title_short |
Effects of breast feeding on neuropsychological development in a community with methylmercury exposure from seafood |
title_full |
Effects of breast feeding on neuropsychological development in a community with methylmercury exposure from seafood |
title_fullStr |
Effects of breast feeding on neuropsychological development in a community with methylmercury exposure from seafood |
title_full_unstemmed |
Effects of breast feeding on neuropsychological development in a community with methylmercury exposure from seafood |
title_sort |
effects of breast feeding on neuropsychological development in a community with methylmercury exposure from seafood |
publishDate |
2005 |
url |
https://portal.findresearcher.sdu.dk/da/publications/6bfde36a-fc8d-4e56-a96a-b2b58cc07b5f https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jea.7500420 |
geographic |
Faroe Islands |
geographic_facet |
Faroe Islands |
genre |
Faroe Islands |
genre_facet |
Faroe Islands |
op_source |
Jensen , T K , Grandjean , P , Jørgensen , E B , White , R F , Debes , F & Weihe , P 2005 , ' Effects of breast feeding on neuropsychological development in a community with methylmercury exposure from seafood ' , Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology , vol. 15 , no. 5 , pp. 423-30 . https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jea.7500420 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jea.7500420 |
container_title |
Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
423 |
op_container_end_page |
430 |
_version_ |
1765996056760287232 |