Abstract
Dietary intake to trace elements may represent the most relevant source of exposure for the general, non-occupationally population, but some of them have been rarely evaluated. We measured content of fifteen trace elements (antimony, barium, beryllium, boron, cobalt, lithium, molybdenum, nickel, silver, strontium, tellurium, thallium, titanium, uranium, and vanadium) in 908 food and beverage samples through inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. We estimated their dietary intake using a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire collected from a population of the Emilia-Romagna Region in Northern Italy. We compared our estimates with tolerable upper intake levels reported by international agencies and we assessed the non-carcinogenic risk through calculation of total hazard quotient for each trace element according to the US-EPA approach. Overall, estimates of their dietary intake were substantially similar to those reported from other countries, and they fell below the tolerable upper intake levels provided by international agencies. The total hazard quotient for each trace element was below 1. Our findings provide updated estimates of food levels and dietary intake of trace elements far frequently evaluated in a sample of Italian adult consumers. They also suggest that any non-carcinogenic risk associated with intake of investigated trace elements may be ruled out in our population.
Highlights
IntroductionIn order to assess the possible health risk to the consumers, it seems necessary to evaluate trace element content in foods and beverages that are consumed by the general population and to estimate their actual dietary intake for comparison with tolerable levels (European Food Safety Authority 2006)
A comprehensive assessment of dietary intake of chemical contaminants is needed to evaluate the long-term risk for public health and food risk assessment (European Food Safety Authority 2006; US-Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA); WHO 1996), considering that diet represents the most relevant source of majority of Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.trace elements for non-occupationally exposed populations (Reilly 2002)
In order to assess the possible health risk to the consumers, it seems necessary to evaluate trace element content in foods and beverages that are consumed by the general population and to estimate their actual dietary intake for comparison with tolerable levels (European Food Safety Authority 2006)
Summary
In order to assess the possible health risk to the consumers, it seems necessary to evaluate trace element content in foods and beverages that are consumed by the general population and to estimate their actual dietary intake for comparison with tolerable levels (European Food Safety Authority 2006). The relevance of trace elements in human health and disease is well documented. Depending of their role within the metabolism, they present an intriguing relation with human health, showing either nutritional and toxicological effects (Nordberg and Nordberg 2016; WHO 1996). Being diet most relevant source of exposure to the above-mentioned trace elements, a periodic and updated evaluation of their content in foods represents a key element for a comprehensive assessment of
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