16

This blog post claims that vaccines given to infants contain less aluminum than is typically ingested from milk - especially formula milk. A more prestigious source of this claim is the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. They state:

While infants receive about 4.4 milligrams of aluminum in the first six months of life from vaccines, they receive more than that in their diet. Breast-fed infants ingest about 7 milligrams, formula-fed infants ingest about 38 milligrams, and infants who are fed soy formula ingest almost 117 milligrams of aluminum during the first six months of life.

However, this paper in Pediatric Nephrology says that the average infant on formula absorbs .0008 mg Al per kg of body weight per day (the breast-fed infant receives significantly less - on the order of 1/10). I can't resolve how this matches the claims above.

Is it true that more aluminum is ingested in the first six months of formula-drinking infant than is injected or ingested by the scheduled vaccines?

Improve this question
18
  • 5
    Whatever the calculations about the amount of aluminium (aluminum for US readers), you also have to take into account the chemistry of the compounds: some are essentially completely inert and will simply pass through the body (eg the hydroxide in antacids).
    – matt_black
    Aug 17, 2012 at 9:54
  • 13
    Side note: Injected, ingested and absorbed are different concepts. The basic idea of comparing the weight of Aluminum ingested versus injected seems a non-sequitur. I'll happily ingest a lot more beer than I will inject.
    – Oddthinking ♦
    Aug 18, 2015 at 2:55
  • 2
    I've come to the conclusion that the CHoP claim is technically true but is an intentional deception based on the pharmacokinetics of intramuscular versus oral aluminum.
    – Skylar Saveland
    Aug 18, 2015 at 22:11
  • 5
    I suspect they get the most from the tin hats of their parents.
    – Daniel R Hicks
    May 6, 2019 at 0:54
  • 4
    Nobody ingests aluminum from vaccines.
    – user11643
    May 6, 2019 at 5:25

0

Reset to default

You must log in to answer this question.

Browse other questions tagged .