Abstract
In this work, the exposure of people, through their diet, to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) has been assessed for the urban, rural, and general populations in Syria. The food categories consumed have been divided into major groups, and the health risk assessment on dietary exposure of PAHs determined in each food category. For this purpose, two approaches were used: incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) and margin of exposure approach (MOE). The results showed that each of the following food categories: oils and fats, meat and meat products, vegetables, and cereals dominantly contribute in the dietary exposure of PAHs. Also their MOE values are the lowest. Additionally, they have higher ILCR values. Therefore, these groups are a main risk source to health. On the other hand, the dietary exposure of PAHs in each of urban, rural and general populations was of low health concern, whereas their ILCR values reached to 10E-05 in total food categories, nevertheless it remains lower than serious risk level (ILCR>10E-04). This work is the first study that is dealing with dietary exposure of PAHs and their health risk assessment in Syria.
Highlights
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are well-known ubiquitous organic pollutants that belong to the group of persistent organic pollutants (Halfadji, Touabet, Portet-Koltalo, Le Derf & Machour, 2017)
The reason is due to the high concentrations of PAHs in the oils and fats and the meat and meat products categories, while in the cereals and the vegetables categories are resulting from high amount of consumption. These categories have the highest incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) values and the lowest margin of exposure (MOE) values, indicating that they represent the main risk source to health. This is the first study dealing with dietary exposure of PAHs and their health risk assessment in Syria
The results indicated that the dietary exposure of PAHs for urban, rural, and general populations was of low concern for consumer health
Summary
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are well-known ubiquitous organic pollutants that belong to the group of persistent organic pollutants (Halfadji, Touabet, Portet-Koltalo, Le Derf & Machour, 2017). They consist of carbon and hydrogen with two or more fused aromatic rings. PAHs are primarily formed and released from the incomplete combustion or pyrolysis of organic matter, during industrial, geochemical processes and other human activities (Yebra-Pimentel, FernandezGonzalez, Martinez-Carballo & Simal-Gandara, 2015). Several PAHs have been demonstrated to be genotoxic and carcinogenic to humans. PAHs classification is based on their toxicity and a list of 16 PAHs issued by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have been described as priority pollutants. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)
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