Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in human breast milk from Colombia: Spatial occurrence, sources and probabilistic risk assessment

The diet is the main route that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) enter the body and measuring breast milk is one of the best ways to understand the maternal body burden and can be passed on to infants. In this study, it was determinate the concentrations of 23 PAHs in 60 milk samples taken from 3 cities in Colombia and to determine the potential routes of exposure and risk to human health. On average, concentration for the ∑ PAHs across all locations was 186.6 ng g −1, lipid mass (LM), with city means of 260.1, 175.7, and 123.9 ng g −1 LM for Cartagena, Bogota and Medellin, respectively. Monte Carlo simulations were used to estimate the hazard quotient (HQ) and incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) for infant dietary exposure to PAHs. HQs were below the safe thresholds (HQ = 1) while ILCRs were greater than the reference value equal to 10 −6 (mg kg −1 day −1 ). Dietary source assessment indicated that fish is a significant source of PAHs, with mothers that consumed fish at least once per week having ∼2.5 times greater PAH milk concentrations than other groups. While a disparity was also observed among consumers of exclusively marine (∑ PAHs 198.5 ng g −1 LM) or freshwater fish (∑ PAHs 85.7 ng g −1 LM). However, geographical considerations can be significant in this finding.