Oral daily intake of cadmium, lead, manganese, copper, chromium, mercury, calcium, zinc and arsenic in Belgium: a duplicate meal study

Overview

Buchet and colleagues analyzed 124 duplicate 24-hour meals from three Belgian areas and a Brussels hospital kitchen for cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), Mn, Cu, chromium (Cr), mercury (Hg), Ca, Zn, and arsenic (As). This is a dietary-exposure source: it measures whole daily meals and beverages, not concentration in a specific product category. It is therefore useful as historical duplicate-diet context and broad mixed-meal exposure evidence, but not as product-row occurrence data for standards pooling. Arsenic and mercury are reported as total elements only.

Key numbers

Table 2 reports total 24-hour dietary intake distributions:

Additional source-reported values:

• Meal sources: 21 daily meals from a Brussels hospital kitchen; 63 domestic meals from Brussels; 20 from Liege; and 20 from Charleroi.
• The abstract reports median 24-hour intakes of Cd 15 µg, Pb 95.7 µg, Mn 2.6 mg, Cu 1.3 mg, Cr 0.24 mg, Hg 6.5 µg, Ca 541 mg, Zn 13.2 mg, and As 11.5 µg.
• The abstract states that about 1-2% of sampled daily meals had mercury and cadmium contents exceeding the WHO tolerable level, and in the case of lead this level was exceeded in 10%. The Discussion confirms “Some 10% of our samples had lead values above this standard.”
• Recovery values from Table 1 were Ca 107.0±3.3%, Zn 97.0±3.3%, Cu 98.2±1.5%, Cr 94.3±7.7%, Mn 105.9±6.6%, As 101.6±5.3%, Hg 105.4±4.0%, Pb 92.8±8.0%, and Cd 109.0±9.4%.

Methods (brief)

Participants prepared duplicate meals and beverages over 24-hour periods, excluding medicines, and stored equivalent samples in disposable plastic containers. Inedible parts were discarded, the rest of the foods and beverages were weighed, homogenized, lyophilized, and analyzed. Calcium and zinc were measured by flame atomic absorption spectrometry; lead, cadmium, copper, chromium, and manganese by graphite-furnace atomic absorption spectrometry; total mercury by a mercury/hydride system in amalgamation mode; and total arsenic after arsine generation and liquid-nitrogen condensation. The paper reports total arsenic and total mercury, not species.

Implications

This source contributes historical Belgian duplicate-diet exposure context for multiple metals across whole daily meals. It can support dietary-intake and mixed-meal context pages, but because each sample is a 24-hour composite of all foods and beverages consumed, it should not be used as product-specific occurrence evidence for rice, beverages, meat, seafood, or any narrower row. The total arsenic and total mercury values should not be promoted to inorganic arsenic or methylmercury.

Related evidence

• Mixed Meals
• Beverages
• Mixed Meals, Non-Rice
• Cadmium
• Lead
• Manganese
• Copper
• Chromium
• Mercury, Total
• Zinc
• Arsenic, Total

Update history

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