diet to reduce lead absorption

[Noel Chavez]

Hello, colleagues.  I was asked by another faculty member for 'a few 
questions to include in a survey that addressed the major dietary measures 
that could be taken to reduce lead absorption'.  This is part of a larger 
study evaluating the health impact of public housing demolition in an area 
where they know there are likely elevated lead levels due to the age of the 
buildings, etc.  I've looked around the literature and it seems to me as if 
there are many potential factors you would need to ask about, i.e., dietary 
iron intake, dietary calcium intake, dietary fiber and caffeine intakes, 
consumption of foods high in oxalates and phytates, whether the high 
calcium and lead foods were consumed with an ascorbic acid source, dietary 
fat intake, overall quality and balance of the diet, food security, 
etc.  This is quickly beyond a few questions, and my instinct is that a 
semiquantitative food frequency along with other questions would likely be 
needed.  This runs into feasibility problems since there are usually 
several small children in each household whose mothers would need to be 
asked about each child's intake, there are various other survey items, 
laboratory and environmental tests, and the like.  Is there an existing 
validated instrument to look at the 'potential protective dietary factors 
to reduce lead absorption'?  Any other ideas?  Thanks very much,


Noel Chavez, PhD, RD, LD
Associate Professor
University of Illinois at Chicago
School of Public Health