Estimated dietary intake of essential and non-essential elements through four highly consumed vegetables

CORA JOFRE, F.; SASSONE, AH; GIACOMINO, V.; ASTOLFO, MA; SAVIO M.; OLMOS, V

Congreso; IAFNS Science Innovation Showcase; 2022

Vegetables are important for human health because of their vitamins, essential elements,phytochemical compounds, and dietary fiber content. However, in a food safety point of view,vegetables can also be source of exposure to toxic substances such as heavy metals, orpesticides.A multielemental analysis was carried out on four vegetables, carrot (Daucus carota), onion(Allium cepa), potato (Solanum tuberosum), and Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris var. cicla) from ninecentral markets distributed across the horticultural areas of the province of Buenos Aires,Argentina. The selected four vegetables have a high presence in the diet of the Argentinepopulation.Aluminum, barium, cadmium, cobalt, copper, chromium, iron, lead, manganese, molybdenum,nickel, strontium, and zinc were analyzed by microwave induced plasma – atomic emissionspectrometry (MIP OES) (triplicate analysis). Seven of the thirteen elements analyzed (aluminum,barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, nickel, and strontium) are considered non-essential elementsfor human beings. Results for cadmium, cobalt, chromium, lead, molybdenum, and nickel werenon-detectable in all four vegetables. Mean concentrations in carrots, onions, potatoes and Swisschards, for aluminum were 2.84, 1.82, 4.08 and 25.18 mg.kg-1, respectively; for barium were 0.88,0.07, 0.06 and 1.58 mg.kg-1, respectively; for copper were 0.39, 0.37, 0.84, 0.61 mg.kg-1,respectively; for iron were 3.52, 2.61, 5.55, 18.07 mg.kg-1, respectively; for manganese were 1.43,0.78, 1.56, 9.81 mg.kg-1, respectively; for strontium were 1.81, 1.38, 0.04, 1.72 mg.kg-1,respectively; and for zinc were 0.74, 0.48, 2.22, 1.04 mg.kg-1, respectively. Contribution of thesefour vegetables to the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) was calculated for the essentialelements, copper: 0.1 mg.day-1 (RDA: 0.9 mg.day-1), iron: 1.15 mg.day-1 (RDA: 8 to 18 mg.day-1),manganese: 0.49 mg.day-1 (RDA: 1.8-2.3 mg.day-1), and zinc: 0.21 mg.day-1 (RDA: 8-18 mg.day1). Estimated dietary intakes (EDIs) were calculated for non-essential elements as indicators ofexposure to potential toxic metals through food. Food intakes were obtained from the DietaryGuidelines for the Argentine population (2016). EDI for aluminum was 0.018 mg.kg-1.day-1, and the estimated weekly intake was 0.124 mg.kg-1 (Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake: 2 mg.kg-1). EDI for barium was 0.001 mg.kg-1.day-1 (Reference dose: 0.07 mg.kg-1.day-1). EDI for strontiumwas 0.002 mg.kg-1.day-1 (Tolerable Daily Intake: 0.13 mg.kg-1.day-1).The results showed no significant health risk to the consumer associated with the consumption ofthese vegetables and the exposure to toxic elements. In a next step, other elements such asarsenic and selenium will be included in the analysis.