Study on the Relationship Between Dietary Lead Intake and Blood Lead Level of Children in Nanjing

Objective To understand the relationship between dietary lead intake and blood lead level among children in Nanjing. Methods Blood lead level in 404 children aged 9～12 years from 2 primary schools in Nanjing and the lead concentration in the daily food were measured with automatic absorption spectrometry technique,and the quantity of daily lead intake was then calculated according to the 3-day dietary survey. Results The average blood lead level was(81.2μg/L),22.8% of them exceeded 100μg/L.According to the suggested criteria for lead poisoning,the children were divided into a high blood lead level group(≥100μg/L) and a low blood lead level group(100μg/L) and their lead intakes were compared.The lead intakes in the high blood lead level group was much higher than those in the low lead level group and the children in high blood lead level group took much more lead polluted aquatic products such as fishes and cakes.Conclusion The increased lead intake can lead to high blood lead level and the children whose blood lead levels are high may have more polluted fishes and cakes intake.