Heavy Metal Levels and Risk Assessment from Consumption of Marine Fish in Peninsular Malaysia

Wan Nurul Farah Wan Azmi,Nurul Izzah Ahmad,Wan Rozita Wan Mahiyuddin

doi:10.4236/jep.2019.1011086

Abstract

Fish consumption is one of the primary sources of protein in Malaysia. However, harmful substances, including heavy metals released from anthropogenic sources may accumulate in marine organisms through the food chain. Hence, human health risks may occur through the consumption of fish contaminated by heavy metals. This study was conducted to determine the concentrations of heavy metals and to assess health risks in edible tissues of 296 commonly consumed marine fish throughout Peninsular Malaysia. The marine fish samples were collected from selected major fish landing ports throughout Peninsular Malaysia. This paper focused on nine heavy metals concentrations namely selenium (Se), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), antimony (Sb), tin (Sn), chromium (Cr) and manganese (Mn) in 46 species of marine fish. The fish samples were digested using a microwave digestion system (Multiwave 3000, Anton Paar). Heavy metals concentrations were analyzed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) ELAN 9000 (Perkin Elmer, Sciex, Canada). The heavy metals concentrations in marine fish samples were found to be dominated by Zn followed by Sn, Se, Cu, Mn, Cr, Pb, Cd and Sb which ranged between 15.9612 mg/kg (Zn) and 0.0002 mg/kg (Sb) wet weight. Among the investigated fish species, Otolithoides biauritus demonstrated the lowest concentration for all heavy metal except for Pb. The estimated weekly intakes (EWI) for all samples in this study were below the established PTWI by JECFA of FAO/WHO. Risk assessment results showed that the hazard quotient (HQ) and hazard index (HI) values were lower than 1 in all fish species. The results indicate that exposure to the studied metals poses a low non-carcinogenic risk and considered safe for human consumption.

Highlights

Fish is widely consumed by many people throughout the world because of its high protein content and provides various vitamins, minerals and polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids that help reduce the risk of certain types of cancer and cardiovascular diseases [1] [2] [3] [4]
The size of fish from collected samples ranged between 12.0 cm (Selaroides leptolepis) to 142.0 cm (Himantura uarnak), the smallest weighed between 0.02 kg and 0.29 kg and the largest weighed between 2.26 kg and 3.04 kg (Table 1)
The heavy metals accumulation in marine fish samples was found to be dominated by Zn followed by Sn, Se, Cu, Mn, Cr, Pb, Cd and Sb which ranged between 15.9612 mg/kg (Zn) to 0.0002 mg/kg (Sb) wet weight

Summary

Introduction

Fish is widely consumed by many people throughout the world because of its high protein content and provides various vitamins, minerals and polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids that help reduce the risk of certain types of cancer and cardiovascular diseases [1] [2] [3] [4]. Consumption of fish is a foremost source of protein for the Malaysian population. Industrial and urbanisation activities have contributed to the increase of contamination, including heavy metal in the marine environment and have directly influenced coastal ecosystems [8] [9]. Heavy metals enter the food chain through direct consumption of water or organisms or uptake processes and can be potentially accumulated in fish [10]. Fish are vulnerable to the effects of chemical contaminants, including heavy metals which bioaccumulate and biomagnify through the aquatic food chain [11]. The concentrations of heavy metals in the tissues and organs of fishes indicate the concentrations of heavy metals in water, and their accumulation in food chains [4] [15]. The toxic elemental contaminants in fish are transferred into human metabolism through consumption of contaminated fish that could cause unhealthy effects towards human health [16] [17] [18]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion