Decabromodiphenyl ether in breast milk collected from Saudi mothers

Abstract

Objectives: This study presents for the first-time temporal changes of decabromodiphenyl ether (deca-BDE) in Saudi human breast milk samples. Methods: Seventy-five samples were taken, and then the extracted and cleaned samples were put via solid-phase extraction (SPE) before being analyzed with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Results: In this research, women eat more meat (69%), followed by eggs (50%), and milk (36%). The bulk of donors (44%) and eggs (33%) eat fish and eggs twice a week. The most of the moms who took part had finished higher education (68%). BDE-209, -28, -138, and -208 were the predominant congeners. BDE-209 was detected in all analyzed samples (median concentration 0.19 ng/g lw) suggesting recent exposure of mothers to deca-BDE formulations. The levels of BDE-209 (the most Carcinogenic agent type) were the highest in breast milk were higher (2.5–8 Fold) the levels of other BDES. Higher rates of egg consumption were positively associated with higher breast milk levels of BDE-28 (P = 0.01). Conclusions: Increased exposure to BDE-209 raises health concerns since its breakdown may result in lower brominated congeners and/or other products, which are more toxic than the parent compound. Furthermore, Eggs could be a way for these congeners to get into the bodies of mothers. Also, our results suggest that mothers in Saudi Arabia get BDE-28 from sources other than their jobs, like eating eggs. More research needs to be done to find out if chickens raised in Saudi Arabia have eggs with a lot of deca-BDE.

Keywords

• Deca-BDE
• Breast milk
• Estimated dietary intakes
• Saudi