Lead, a naturally occurring element, is potentially toxic, particularly for young, developing children. Exposure to lead-based paint in older homes — built before consumer uses of lead-based paint were banned by the federal government in 1978 — and lead in soil are often to blame for higher blood lead levels in children.
One way kids absorb lead is by literally consuming it. Little kids, after all, like to touch walls, play in the dirt and put anything and everything in their mouths, from soil to paint chips. And lead dust and other fine, minute sources can be hazardous. “If it’s not lead in paint or lead in the soil, it could be lead pipes in your home or it could be the pottery that you drink your orange juice out of,” says Dr. Jennifer Lowry, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Council on Environmental Health, and section chief for toxicology and environmental health at Children’s Mercy in Kansas City, Missouri. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that there’s no known safe blood lead level in children, and even low levels of lead in blood have been shown to affect IQ, kids’ ability to pay attention and academic achievement. Parents who have any concerns should talk to their child’s doctor immediately about whether to get his or her blood lead level tested. According to the CDC, virtually all children should be screened for lead poisoning, and special attention is paid to testing kids who are at higher risk for exposure, like those living in communities with older housing.
Despite the seemingly ubiquitous nature of the threat, there are ways children can be protected. First and foremost, experts say the source of the lead exposure must be identified and addressed — like taking steps, as directed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to remove or eliminate the lead-based paint hazards. The same goes for getting rid of other sources, like suspect handmade pottery, too. If the pottery is made in the U.S., it probably has lead-free clay, but if it’s made, say, in Mexico, there may be lead in it, says Isabel Maples, a registered dietitian nutritionist based in Reston, Virginia, and a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
[See: The 5 Latest Poison Control Threats Kids Face.]
Eating Well to Reduce Lead Absorption
So it’s critically important for parents to address any sources of lead in the home — by paying careful attention to what kids ingest, and especially having water tested if there’s any concerns about lead — but experts say what children eat can help protect their bodies from lead absorption as well. One thing parents and caregivers can do to help lower a child’s blood lead level is to feed their child healthy foods that have calcium, iron and vitamin C, according to the CDC’s Healthy Homes and Lead Poisoning Prevention Program. “These foods may help keep lead out of the body,” the agency notes.
If a child gets enough iron and calcium, he or she may not absorb as much lead after being exposed to it, experts say. Though diet is, of course, not a substitute for remediating any lead exposure source, eating well can help in lowering lead levels and preventing the body from absorbing lead, even before lead concerns become known. That’s one more reason nutrition and medical experts say ensuring a child is eating a healthy, well-balanced diet is key. “So if you have good calcium and iron stores, you’re less likely to have that absorption,” Lowry says. Along with lean meats and poultry, good plant-based sources of iron include leafy greens like spinach. For calcium, in addition to dairy, dark leafy greens are a good source.
“Vitamin C helps the iron to be absorbed better in the body,” adds Kristi King, senior clinical dietitian at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, who is also a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “That vitamin C is going to pair up with the iron, and it’s going to help the body absorb the iron and not the lead.” Fruits, such as strawberries and oranges and drinks with lemon, are all sources of vitamin C, along with mustard greens and even popcorn, she notes. Maples adds that vitamin C especially helps the body absorb more iron from plant sources of iron.
King says thiamine (also called vitamin B1) may be helpful in reducing blood lead levels, as well. “There are studies that show thiamine can help lead to lead excretion — mainly in the brain. So that means it helps to take the lead out of the body,” she says. Milk and peas are good sources of thiamine, and some bread products and cereal also have thiamine added to them, she says.
[See: 10 Concerns Parents Have About Their Kids’ Health.]
What’s in the Water?
As a means of primary prevention to protect kids from ingesting lead, experts say parents should pay special attention to the water kids are drinking.
Testing the water is the only way to determine if it contains lead, according to the EPA. Lead testing kits can be purchased from a home improvement store, and the agency recommends sending samples to a certified laboratory for analysis.
If a home tests positive for lead, the agency recommends taking additional steps to protect those who might be drinking water. That includes flushing the pipes until water becomes cold (the EPA advises contacting the local water utility to verify flushing times for your area) and only using cold water for cooking or drinking (since warm water can leach lead from pipes), as well as considering replacing plumbing fixtures that contain lead.
Parents should take special care to protect formula-fed babies from contaminated water. “You make your bottle with that water,” Lowry notes — and by the time many kids tested for lead at 1 year of age, they’ve already been exposed to all that lead in the water used for formula.
Filtration may work to remove lead — remembering, of course, to change the filters regularly, as instructed. But, in particular, babies who are bottle-fed with formula are getting all their sustenance from a bottle before they start foods. So they’re taking in lots of water at a critical time for their brain development, when they’re also especially vulnerable to the effects of lead, experts say. Given that, King recommends parents take another step to protect formula-fed babies from lead in water, or if they’re uncertain about whether there could be lead in their drinking water. “For parents that are providing children formula, it’s really important that you use water that is sterile water from the store,” she says — water that is free from bacteria and other contaminants such as lead. “Because if you’re using tap water or you’re using the well water in your home, and there are elevated levels of lead in them, then you could be potentially giving that to your infant.”
As with water, experts say it’s also important to be aware of instances where lead may be in anything else a child might consume. There’s some risk of that, for example, in ethnic spices including turmeric or candy that came from outside the U.S. “Candy that’s imported from other countries may contain lead, particularly those with chili powder from other countries, usually from Central America and South America,” she says. Added caution is warranted, and parents are advised not to give kids anything to eat if they are uncertain about the ingredients.
[See: The 11 Most Dangerous Places in Your Home for Babies and Small Kids.]
In the end, experts say, when it comes to accounting for the food and drink piece in the lead prevention puzzle, standard balanced diet advice applies. Get back to the basics and make sure kids have a well-rounded, healthy diet, including fruits, vegetables, dairy, lean meats and whole grains, King says. “That can not only help them grow and flourish into the kids that we want them to be but can help protect them from lead absorption.”
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Could Changing Your Child’s Diet Help Prevent Lead Poisoning? originally appeared on usnews.com
