Overview
This study measured cadmium, lead, arsenic, copper, zinc, nitrate and nitrite in celosia, amaranth and jute mallow leaves bought at five markets in and around Ilorin, Nigeria. Cadmium exceeded the cited FAO/WHO value of 0.2 mg/kg in every vegetable at every market, while lead and arsenic were below their cited limits.
Key numbers
- Cadmium: celosia 0.48 to 0.52, amaranth 0.24 to 0.26, jute mallow 0.55 to 0.58 mg/kg across the five markets (Tables 1-3, pp. 67-68).
- Lead: celosia 0.11 to 0.13, amaranth 0.06 to 0.09, jute mallow 0.11 to 0.12 mg/kg (Tables 1-3).
- Arsenic: highest “0.18” mg/kg in jute mallow from Omu-Aran (Table 3); the abstract gives 0.08 to 0.17 mg/kg, the tables 0.09 to 0.18.
Methods (brief)
Leaves were washed, oven-dried at 75 °C, milled, dry ashed at 550 °C, dissolved in hydrochloric acid and analyzed by AAS following AOAC methods. One value per vegetable and market is printed, without dispersion. No detection limits, reference materials or recoveries are reported, and the printed calculation formula does not fit AAS.
Evidence Fitness
Weak QA, no stated basis (dried samples), single values per market, and an arsenic range that differs between the abstract and the tables (kept as printed with flags). There is no DOI and peer review is unverified. These leafy greens are a proxy for collard-greens (no collards were measured), so that page is not linked.