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Potential Health Risks Associated with the Heavy Metal Content in Commonly Consumed Food from Prakasam District of Andhra Pradesh, India

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Abstract

The present study investigated the heavy metal (HM) accumulation in some food items and associated potential human health risk in the Prakasam district. Food samples were collected from 9 villages of different mandals mainly comprising of rice, wheat, green gram, red gram, black gram, potato, and amaranthus. The HMs chromium (Cr), arsenic (As), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and mercury (Hg) were analyzed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (ICPMS). The results showed that the HM concentrations in vegetables were higher than the cereals and pulses. The decreasing order of HM concentrations were observed as Cr > As > Pb > Cd > Hg, Cr > Pb > As = Cd > Hg and Cr > Pb > Cd > As > Hg in cereals, pulses, and vegetables, respectively. The dietary intake of cereals and vegetables contributed more exposure to HMs. The hazard index (HI) in case of cereals (3.648) and vegetables (1.003) exceeded 1 indicating the non-carcinogenic risk when these food items are consumed by adults. The HI in case of cereals (7.106) and vegetables (1.747) exceeded 1 indicating the health risks when these food items were consumed by children. The HI for cereals and vegetables in case of children is almost double to the HI of adults. The lifetime cancer risk was observed for Cr via consumption of rice and amaranthus, both in adults and children. In conclusion, health risk due to consumption of cereals and vegetables revealed both non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risk for adults and children. The findings of the present study can be used for the development of potential strategies for risk control and management.

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The raw and statistically tested data is available with statistics department and corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the encouragement and guidance of the Director, ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition, India. The authors thank the ICMR for financial assistance to conduct the study.

Funding

The project was funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research, India.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Food Safety Division, ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition, Jamai Osmania PO, Tarnaka, Hyderabad, India

    Arjun L. Khandare, Vakdevi Validandi, Ravi Prakash Jamalpur & Srinivas Dheeravath

  2. Department of Biochemistry, ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, India

    Srinivasu Kurella

  3. Food Composition & Nutrient Analysis Division, ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, India

    Anitha Chauhan & Longvah Thingnganing

  4. Department of Statistics, National Institute of Nutrition, ICMR, Hyderabad, India

    Naveen kumar Boiroju

Authors
  1. Arjun L. Khandare
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Contributions

Dr. ALK contributed to the conception and design, acquisition of data, and interpretation of data. Dr. V.V contributed to the acquisition of data and drafting the article. RPJ contributed to the laboratory analysis, SD contributed to the laboratory analysis, SK contributed to laboratory analysis, AC contributed to the heavy metal analysis, NB contributed to data statistical analysis, and LT contributed to the interpretation of the data.

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Correspondence to Arjun L. Khandare.

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Khandare, A.L., Validandi, V., Jamalpur, R.P. et al. Potential Health Risks Associated with the Heavy Metal Content in Commonly Consumed Food from Prakasam District of Andhra Pradesh, India. Biol Trace Elem Res 200, 3453–3461 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-021-02918-5

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