Fight Lead Poisoning with a Healthy Diet

This brochure, available in English and Spanish, provides information on lead's effects on the body, the main sources of lead, action steps to protect against lead hazards, and meal and snack ideas  (many of which contain foods offered in the WIC food packages) that provide nutrients of particular importance: calcium, iron and vitamin C. These nutrients help the body absorb less lead and are part of a healthy diet.

Lead is particularly dangerous to children because their growing bodies absorb more lead than adults do and their brains and nervous systems are more sensitive to the damaging effects of lead. A pregnant woman’s exposure to lead is also of particular concern because it can result in exposure to her developing baby. The EPA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) agree that there is no known safe level of lead in a child's blood.