Food Protection for Children

Children Are Not Small Adults

Children cannot be viewed simply as miniature adults, said pediatricians, toxicologists, and regulators gathered last fall at a risk assessment symposium on similarities and differences between children and adults. Sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency and the International Life Sciences Institute, the symposium evaluated biological, social and environmental factors related to children that can affect their risk from foods, pesticide residues or other substances.

Most notably, children's dietary patterns differ from adults in both quantity and types of foods consumed. In relation to body weight, children eat more food than adults to meet their demands for rapid growth. This is particularly true among preschoolers.

Also, children's consumption of certain types of foods such as fruits and fruit juices can be quite different from adults. In addition to these basic dietary differences, variables such as nutritional status, socioeconomic level, culture and geographic location can profoundly affect a child's health risk from certain substances.

While not exposed to the same occupational hazards as adults, children's home, school and play surroundings can influence their health risk. J. Michael Davis, Ph.D., a health scientist with the EPA Office of Health and Environmental Assessment, has noted that children are generally exposed to much higher levels of lead through airborne sources, household dust and soil, lead paint, and pipes, in addition to diet. Thumbsucking and other typical hand-to-mouth behaviors may account for as much as 80 percent of all children's lead-related exposures.

Several biological factors in children can make them either more or less sensitive than adults to various substances. Children have higher rates of breathing and blood flow, and many of their organ cells multiply at a faster rate through normal growth. Also, the rate at which certain drugs or chemicals pass through cell membranes in children varies from adults, influencing potential toxicity.

In addition, children's metabolism of certain chemicals may be more or less efficient than adults. Young children are known to have a greater tolerance than adults to acetaminophen, the most widely used over-the- counter drug for pain and fever in the United States. Some scientists believe this phenomenon may be due to children's greater capacity to safely eliminate the drug by non-toxic metabolic pathways.

The immature immune systems of infants and children can also place them at greater risk from infection, including microbiological contamination of foods. Health officials are stepping up public education efforts to reduce incidence of foodborne illness in children and other groups such as the elderly that may have vulnerable immune systems.