What are the symptoms of excessive lead in babies? Pediatric experts answer

Many people may have heard of lead poisoning. If the lead content in a child's body exceeds the standard, it will have a great impact on health, especially seriously affecting the child's physical and intellectual development. Many people don’t know what it means for babies to have excessive lead levels. In fact, it means that the lead in the baby’s body exceeds the normal value. Lead is a chemical element. This metal element is very harmful to the human body. For example, it can cause palpitations, people will become easily excited, and the nervous system will be damaged. The most important thing is that if the lead level in the body exceeds the standard, the probability of cancer will greatly increase, so parents should pay close attention to the problem of lead poisoning in babies. Babies with lead poisoning will have many of the following symptoms.

First, the symptoms of excessive lead

If children have excessive lead levels, problems will occur in all systems of the body, and may even be life-threatening. Common symptoms include:

1. Nervous system: irritability, hyperactivity, short attention span, aggressive behavior, slow reaction, drowsiness, movement disorders. Severe cases may include mania, delirium (a temporary neurological disorder characterized by confusion, bewilderment, incoherent speech, restlessness, agitation, and often delusions or hallucinations), visual impairment, and cranial nerve paralysis. When the blood lead level is around 1000ug/L (4.826umol/L), symptoms of lead encephalopathy such as headache, vomiting, convulsions, coma, and even death may occur.

2. Digestive system: abdominal pain, constipation, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, etc.

3. Blood system: microcytic hypochromic anemia, etc.

4. Cardiovascular system: hypertension and arrhythmia.

5. Urinary system: aminoaciduria, glucosuria, and hyperphosphaturia in the early stage; in the late stage, patients may experience symptoms of renal failure such as azotemia.

Subclinical lead poisoning mainly affects children's intellectual behavioral development and physical growth. Due to the lack of clinical manifestations sufficient to attract the attention of parents and pediatricians, it is often easily ignored. By the time it is discovered, the toxic effects of lead are difficult to reverse. Its hidden and progressive pathological characteristics make it more harmful to children's health. Therefore, it is the focus of research on childhood lead poisoning.

Second, the harm of excessive blood lead

Although excessive lead has extremely serious impacts on human health, many people are not aware of its terrible harm.

The metabolic half-life of lead in the human body is 1460 days. The long-term accumulation of lead that enters the human body every day can cause chronic lead poisoning. People will experience symptoms of neurasthenia such as fatigue, lack of energy, inattention, headache, dizziness, insomnia, and dreaminess, as well as mental or emotional changes such as mild excitement, irritability, anxiety, and hysterical attacks. There may also be gastrointestinal symptoms, such as loss of appetite, nausea, abdominal discomfort, etc. In addition, men may have decreased libido and impotence, and women may have menstrual disorders. It can also cause cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and chronic respiratory diseases in middle-aged and elderly people.

Medical experts point out that the lead ingested by children is not mainly accumulated in the bones like that of adults, but enters the body tissues. Therefore, excessive lead is more harmful to children. Because children's blood-brain barrier is not yet fully developed, lead can more easily pass through the blood-brain barrier and cause permanent damage to brain development.

Most experts are accustomed to calling the "lead" that invades the human body "lead poisoning". The first symptoms that will appear are "the brain is filled with lead" - such as inattention, memory loss, insomnia, dizziness, neurasthenia, fatigue, etc., and then there will be symptoms of "limbs are filled with lead" - unable to lift the legs, unable to lift the hands, and then abdominal cramps, anemia, paralysis, convulsions, twitching, coma and other manifestations of multiple organ damage.

Third, what to do if children's lead content exceeds the standard

Excessive lead content mainly refers to lead metal poisoning in the human body, which can seriously affect children's health. However, daily diet can help improve the symptoms of excessive lead content.

1. Milk: The protein components it contains can combine with lead in the body to form a soluble compound, thereby preventing the body from absorbing lead. It is recommended that you drink 1 to 2 cups of milk every day.

2. Shrimp skin: Every 100 grams of shrimp skin contains up to 2 grams of calcium. The latest research shows that increasing dietary calcium intake is not only beneficial to children's bone development, but also can reduce gastrointestinal absorption of lead and accumulation of bone lead, which can effectively reduce children's absorption of lead and reduce lead toxicity. For children exposed to low levels of lead, increasing dietary calcium intake can effectively reduce lead absorption.

3. Kelp: Kelp has the effect of detoxifying and removing lead, and can promote the excretion of lead in the body.

4. Garlic: Certain organic components in garlic can bind to lead and have the effect of eliminating lead poisoning.

5. Vegetables: Vitamin C in vegetables such as rapeseed, cabbage, and bitter gourd combines with lead to form water-insoluble and non-toxic salts that are excreted from the body with feces. Generally speaking, the lead content in plant foods is higher than that in animal foods, and the lead content in roots and tubers is the highest.

6. Fruits: The pectin contained in kiwi, dates, oranges, etc. can precipitate lead in the intestines, thereby reducing the body's absorption of lead.