The concentration, source and potential human health risk of heavy metals in the commonly consumed foods in Bangladesh

Overview

Islam and colleagues measured chromium, nickel, copper, arsenic, cadmium, and lead in commonly consumed foods from Bogra district, Bangladesh. The sampled food groups were meat, egg, fish, milk, vegetables, cereals, and fruits, with concentrations reported in mg/kg fw. Arsenic is reported as total arsenic in the occurrence table; the later cancer-risk calculation assumes 50% inorganic arsenic, but the concentration data are not speciated.

Key numbers

The abstract reports all-food concentration ranges in mg/kg fw: chromium (Cr) 0.058-10, nickel (Ni) 0.036-25, Cu 0.045-40, arsenic (As) 0.005-7.1, cadmium (Cd) 0.001-5.5, and lead (Pb) 0.005-13.

Table 1 reports heavy metals in commonly consumed foods as Mean +/- SD in mg/kg fw:

Additional source-reported findings:

• The text reports the highest mean Cr in wheat at 3.5 mg/kg, followed by pangas fish at 2.7 mg/kg and chicken meat at 2.4 mg/kg.
• The highest mean Ni was reported in guava fruit at 9.0 mg/kg, followed by tilapia fish at 4.9 mg/kg and wheat at 3.7 mg/kg.
• The highest mean Cu was reported in guava fruit at 18 mg/kg and the lowest in beef at 1.8 mg/kg.
• The highest mean total As was reported in mango and guava fruit at 1.3 mg/kg, followed by pangas fish and maize at 1.0 mg/kg.
• The highest Cd concentration was reported in tilapia fish, mean 0.84 and range 0.004-5.5 mg/kg.
• The highest Pb in cereals was reported in wheat, mean 4.8 and range 0.06-11 mg/kg, followed by maize, mean 2.4 and range 0.09-9.1 mg/kg, and rice, mean 1.9 and range 0.20-7.3 mg/kg.
• Table 2 total daily intake via food for adults was Cr 1.33, Ni 1.81, Cu 7.53, As 0.333, Cd 0.155, and Pb 1.63 mg/day.
• Table 2 total daily intake via food for children was Cr 0.637, Ni 0.896, Cu 3.70, As 0.167, Cd 0.079, and Pb 0.765 mg/day.

Methods (brief)

The study collected commonly consumed foods during February-March and August-September 2012 from Bogra district, Bangladesh, including agriculture-field, dairy-farm, poultry-farm, Korotoa River, and market sources. Edible portions were washed with distilled water, cut, oven-dried at 70-80 °C to constant weight, pulverized, sieved through a 2 mm nylon sieve, and stored at -20 °C before analysis. About 0.5 g of food sample was digested with 6 ml 69% HNO3 and 2 ml 30% H2O2 in a closed Teflon vessel using a Berghof speedwave microwave digestion system, filtered, diluted to 25 ml, and analyzed by ICP-MS. Certified reference materials INCT-CF-3 corn flour and DORM-2 dogfish muscle were used for analytical accuracy; detection limits were 0.7, 0.6, 0.8, 0.4, 0.06, and 0.09 ng/L for Cr, Ni, Cu, As, Cd, and Pb, respectively.

Implications

This source contributes Bangladesh-market occurrence evidence for total Cr, Ni, Cu, total As, Cd, and Pb across multiple food categories, including freshwater fish, rice, other cereals, vegetables, fresh fruit, meat, eggs, and milk. It is especially relevant for row-fit decisions where broad mixed-food evidence needs to be separated into product families rather than treated as a single pooled food category. Arsenic results are total As occurrence data; they should not be used as inorganic-arsenic concentrations without a separately logged conversion or assumption.

Related evidence

• Meat and Poultry
• Eggs
• Fish
• Milk and Dairy
• Vegetables
• Root vegetables
• Non-root vegetables
• Rice
• Corn
• Wheat
• Fruit
• Beef
• Lamb/mutton
• Poultry (chicken, turkey, duck)
• Eggs
• Fish — freshwater (tilapia, catfish, trout)
• Milk and Dairy
• Non-Root Vegetables
• Root and Tuber Vegetables
• Rice (white, brown, wild — bulk grain)
• Other grain products (oat, millet, quinoa, barley)
• Fresh Fruit
• Chromium
• Nickel
• Copper
• Arsenic, Total
• Cadmium
• Lead

Update history

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