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VOL. 70 (4), 961-999, 2004 VANADIUM - AN ELEMENT BOTH ESSENTIAL AND TOXIC

TABLE 15. Vanadium balance of adult people with mixed and ovo-lacto-vegetarian
diets (n 287;287)

Parameter Women Men

Mixed Vegetarian Mixed Vegetarian
diet diet diet diet

Intake, µg/day 11.3 48.7 32.6 38.6

Excretion Faeces, µg/d 11.5 36.7 36.4 34.7
Excretion Urine, µg/d 0.7 0.6 0.9 1.7
Excretion Faeces, % 94 98 98 95
Excretion Urine, % 6 2 2 5

Apparent absorption rate, % – 33 – 11

Balance µg/day – 0.9 + 11.4 – 5.0 + 2.2

µg/d % – 8.0 + 23 –15 + 5.7

On average, a nursing mother transfers 17% of her vanadium
intake to her baby through the milk (Table 16) and excretes only 5%
through her kidneys, whereas renal excretion in a young, non-nur-
sing woman amounts to 9%. The apparent rate of vanadium absorp-
tion in non-nursing young women is 8.9%, which corresponds to the
10% registered for adults in general.

The vanadium balance of nursing women is negative. The nega-
tive balance of lactating mothers demonstrates that the stores of
vanadium in the bones are reduced after birth (3, 14). In animals,
the balance of macro-, trace and ultratrace elements during lactation
is mostly negative (49).

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