The probabilistic health risk assessment and analysis of trace elements in grape and date syrup as a sweet and nutritious alternative

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ABSTRACT This study aimed to investigate the levels of essential and toxic elements in the grape and date syrups of Tehran. The concentration of elements in the syrup samples was measured using the acid digestion method and the inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) technique. The grape and date syrup samples were tested for the mean concentrations of 19 elements, namely aluminium (Al), arsenic (As), boron (B), barium (Ba), cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), mercury (Hg), lithium (Li), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), antimony (Sb), tin (Sn), vanadium (V,) and zinc (Zn). Based on the results, the grape syrup samples showed the highest mean concentration of B (4210 ppb) and the lowest mean concentration of Hg (1.126 ppb). In the date syrup samples, the highest mean concentration was for Zn (4323.40 ppb), while the lowest mean concentration was for V (0.14 ppb). The concentrations of Fe, Mn, Mg, and Zn were observed to be relatively higher compared to the levels of other elements. Health risk assessments indicated that the 95th percentile of the target hazard quotient (THQ) for potentially toxic elements (PTEs) intake from both syrups was below one (THQ <1) for both children and adults. This suggests that the detected concentrations have not yet proposed any short-term health risks. Also, the 95th percentile of incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) among children was between 1E–04 to 1E–06 which is the WHO’s target, so more investigation before taking any action is required. However, among adults, the 95th percentile of ILCR was lower than 1E–6 so more investigation is required. In general, it is necessary to regularly control and monitor the concentration of contaminants in date and grape syrups.