Essential and Toxic Heavy Metals Status in Some Fruits from Turaba District (Saudi Arabia), Health Risk Assessment

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the essential (Ca, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni and Zn) and the toxic heavy metals (Al, As, Cd and Pb) in fruit samples of commonly consumed in Turaba District, (Saudi Arabia). Samples were digested by microwave assisted reaction system using (3:1) HNO3:H2O2 mixture. The metals were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Studied samples includes bananas (Musa acuminata), tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum), guava (Psidium guajava), grapes (Vitis spp), date palm (Phoenix dactylifera), mangos (Mangifera indica), cantaloupe melon (Cucumis melo), watermelon (Citrullus lanatus), orange (Citrus maxima), mandarin (Citrus reticulata), lemon (Citrus limon) and pomegranate (Punica Granatum). The method was validated in terms of linearity, accuracy and precision, limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ). The recovery (%) was found to be between 91.6–103.4%. It was found that Ca (~14.79 mg/kg), Mg (~10.46 mg/kg), Na (~6.327 mg/kg), K (~166.33 mg/kg) and Zn (2.85 mg/kg) were predominant among the major elements, while, Cr (~0.001 mg/kg), Cu (~0.147 mg/kg), Fe (~0.104 mg/kg) and Mn (~0.010 mg/kg) were comparable. The concentration of toxic heavy metals (Cd, Al, As and Pb) were mostly below LOD and they may not develop any health problems, while Co and Ni were not detected in all studied fruit samples. Moreover, the estimated concentrations of all metals in the present study were lower than the limits that permitted by Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) and World Health Organization (WHO). This is results is also confirmed by the estimated daily dietary elements intake (EDDEI) values. This indicate that, fruit types of commonly consumed in Turaba District and other parts in Saudi Arabia may not rises any health risk to consumers. Student's t-test, ANOVA test at 95% confidence interval and Microsoft excel were employed to estimate the significance of values obtained.