Comparison of toxic heavy metals in the breast milk of diabetic and non-diabetic postpartum mothers in Yenagoa, Nigeria

BACKGROUND: Breast milk is the main source of neonatal nutrition. It is not known whether diabetes increases the excretion of toxic heavy metals in the breast milk of postpartum mothers. We compared the concentration of toxic heavy metals in breast milk between diabetic and non-diabetic postpartum mothers in Yenagoa. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A cross-sectional design was utilized on a purposive sample of 144 consenting postpartum mothers (72 diabetic and 72 non-diabetic mothers) from three public hospitals. Breast milk samples were collected at 5–6 weeks postpartum between 1st November 2020 and 30th April 2021. Atomic-Absorption-Spectrophotometer and Direct-Mercury-Analyzer were used to analyze the breast milk samples. A data collection form (proforma) was used and data were analyzed at a 5% significance level with IBM-SPSS 25 software. RESULT: High levels of Arsenic (63.9% vs. 62.5%), Lead (95.8% vs. 95.8%), Mercury (68.1% vs. 72.2%), and Cadmium (84.7% vs. 86.1%) were detected in the breast milk of the diabetic and non-diabetic groups respectively. The mean concentrations for Arsenic (0.6 vs. 0.6 ng/mL), Lead (13.2 vs. 12.2 ng/mL), Mercury (2.9 vs. 3.0 ng/mL), and Cadmium (3.3 vs. 3.2 ng/mL) were above the WHO permissible limits, thus showing evidence of risk to the health of the mother and neonate. There was no significant difference in the concentration of toxic heavy metals in breast milk between the groups (p = > 0.585). CONCLUSIONS: Diabetes did not seem to increase the concentration of toxic heavy metals expressed in breast milk. More rigorous studies are needed to confirm these findings.