Human Health Risk Assessment of Aluminium Via Consumption of Contaminated Vegetables Publisher



Ghasemidehkordi B¹ ; Nazem H¹ ; Malekirad AA^{2, 3} ; Fazilati M¹ ; Salavati H⁴ ; Rezaei M^{2, 5, 6}
Source: Quality Assurance and Safety of Crops and Foods Published:2018

Abstract

The third most abundant metal in the earth crust is aluminium (Al). Contamination of vegetables with Al poses a threat to human health, therefore it is essential to measure the amount of this metal in edible parts of vegetables and evaluate the possible health risks to human body through the food chain. Eight types of vegetables that are commonly used in Iranian dishes including spinach, fenugreek, parsley, cress, allium, radish, tarragon and coriander were collected from agricultural sites of Markazi province, Iran. These vegetables were oven dried and acid digested and then they were analysed by inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy for the Al content. The results indicated that the average concentration of Al was between 3,719.73±1,652.6 and 166.42±24.62 in Spinach and Fenugreek respectively. Based on transfer factor of Al, it can be inferred that soil condition has an important effect on uptake of metal by plants. Although the soil was contaminated with Al and vegetables can uptake this metal from soil, there was no significant health risk associated with the contaminated vegetables. © 2018 Wageningen Academic Publishers.