Estimation of Toxic Metals in Milk Collected from Lactating Mothers in Karak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan.

Abstract

The objective of the study was to assess the concentration of heavy metals like Zn, Ni, Fe, Cd and Pb in human
milk. Human milk was obtained from lactating mothers. Breast milk samples were collected from thirty lactating mothers
below the age of forty who patronize the post natal clinic of Karak Government district hospital. The samples were obtained by
self-milking into sterilized polyethylene bottles and well labeled. Few drops of 0.1M trichloroacetic acid were added to the
sample and the aqueous layer was heated at 500 ° C for one hour. After ashing, it was digested with 0.5 M HNO3 and the
metals were analyzed using an AAS (Perkin Elmer 400).The study showed that most of the samples were found to have Pb
below detection limit, and ranged between 0.006 -0.269. Cadmium was not detected throughout the study. The mean Nickel
concentration was found to be 0.545μg/L and ranged between 0.004-0.745μg/. From the analysis it was concluded that heavy
metals in human milk do not exceed the permissible limit, so it is safe to lactate child in the selected community.