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Statistical characteristics of selected elements in vegetables from Kosovo

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Abstract

Zinc, copper, iron, chromium and cobalt are essential elements for human health, showing toxicity only in high concentrations, while lead and cadmium are extremely toxic even as traces. Therefore, it is important to monitor the contents of toxic metals in vegetables. Large number of vegetables is grown and used in nutrition, in Kosovo. The concentrations of selected elements in vegetables (radish, onion, garlic and spinach) from Kosovo were determined using ICP-OES method. Oral intake of metals and health risk index were calculated. Statistical analysis indicated numerous positive correlations between concentrations of selected elements in vegetables. As a result of principal component analysis, 15 new variables were obtained which were characterized by eigenvalues. The sequence of health quotients for the heavy metals followed the decreasing order Zn = Mn > Pb > Cu > Ni > Fe > Cd > Co > Cr. The health quotients for all investigated heavy metals were below 1 (one), which is considered safe. The vegetables from Kosovo are mainly safe for use in everyday diet.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development Republic of Serbia, Project No. TR34025 and 174007.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Science and Mathematics, University of Pristina, Kosovska Mitrovica, Serbia

    Ruzica Micic & Anja Jokic

  2. Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics, The University of Nis, Nis, Serbia

    Snezana Mitic, Biljana Arsic, Milan Mitic, Danijela Kostic & Aleksandra Pavlovic

  3. IHIS Techno-Experts, Batajnicki put 23, 11080, Belgrade, Serbia

    Milan Cekerevac & Ljiljana Nikolic-Bujanovic

  4. Business Faculty, Singidunum University, Belgrade, Republic of Serbia

    Zaklina Spalevic

Authors
  1. Ruzica Micic
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  2. Snezana Mitic
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  3. Biljana Arsic
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  4. Anja Jokic
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  5. Milan Mitic
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  6. Danijela Kostic
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  7. Aleksandra Pavlovic
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  9. Ljiljana Nikolic-Bujanovic
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Correspondence to Biljana Arsic.

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Micic, R., Mitic, S., Arsic, B. et al. Statistical characteristics of selected elements in vegetables from Kosovo. Environ Monit Assess 187, 389 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-015-4606-3

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