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Human health risk assessment of heavy metals in the irrigated area of Jinghui, Shaanxi, China, in terms of wheat flour consumption

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Abstract

Contamination of heavy metals (HMs) in agricultural soil has become a serious environmental problem because it poses a serious threat to human health by entering into food chains. Wheat is a staple food of the majority of the world’s population; therefore, understanding the relationship between HM concentration in soils and its accumulation in wheat grain is imperative. This study assessed the concentrations of HMs (i.e., Hg, As, Cd, Cr, Pb, Cu, Zn, and Ni) in agricultural soils (a loess soil, eum-orthic anthrosol) and wheat flour in the historical irrigated area of Jinghui, Northwest China. The potential human health risks of HMs among local residents were also determined by evaluating the consumption of wheat flour. Results showed that the mean soil concentrations of HMs exceeded the corresponding natural background values of agricultural surface soil in Shaanxi: 0.07 mg kg−1 for Hg, 15.4 mg kg−1 for As, 0.25 mg kg−1 for Cd, 75.5 mg kg−1 for Cr, 27.2 mg kg−1 for Pb, 28.1 mg kg−1 for Cu, 81.1 mg kg−1 for Zn, and 36.6 mg kg−1 for Ni, respectively. However, all of the mean concentrations of HMs in soil were within the safety limits set by the Chinese regulation (HJ332-2006). The total HM concentrations in wheat flour were 0.0017 mg kg−1 for Hg, 0.028 mg kg−1 for As, 0.020 mg kg−1 for Cd, 0.109 mg kg−1 for Cr, 0.128 mg kg−1 for Pb, 2.66 mg kg−1 for Cu, 24.20 mg kg−1 for Zn, and 0.20 mg kg−1 for Ni, and they were significantly lower than the tolerance limits of Chinese standards. However, 15 % of the wheat flour samples exceeded the Chinese standard (GB2762-2012) for Pb. This study highlighted the human health risks in the relationship of wheat flour consumption for both adults and children with HMs accumulated area. HMs did not cause noncarcinogenic risks in the area (HI < 1) except for children in Jingyang county; Cd generated the greatest carcinogenic risk, which poses a potential health risk to consumers. The results obtained in this study showed that the government and other institutions should implement measures to prevent and control HM contamination in agricultural soil and crops to mitigate the associated health risks.

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Abbreviations

AFS:

Gasification-atomic fluorescence spectroscopy

BCF:

Bioconcentration factor

BVS:

Background values for soils

CDI:

Chronic daily intake

CV:

Coefficients of variation

EQSFC:

Environmental quality standards for farmland in China

HI:

Hazard index

HMs:

Heavy metals

HQ:

Hazard quotient

ICP-MS:

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer

LADD:

Lifetime average daily dose

MPI:

Metal pollution index

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank for the financial support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41171379 and 41571454, to D. Liang) and the Science and Technology Basic Work of Science and Technology Ministry of China (No. 2015FY111300). We also thank the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Key Laboratory of Plant Nutrition and the Agri-Environment in Northwest China, Ministry of Agriculture, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China

    Lingming Lei, Dongli Liang, Dasong Yu, Yupeng Chen, Weiwei Song & Jun Li

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  1. Lingming Lei
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Correspondence to Dongli Liang.

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Table S1. Descriptive statistical summary of heavy metal content in soils. Table S2. Non-carcinogenic risk associated wheat flour assumption. Table S3. Carcinogenic risk associated wheat flour assumption. (DOCX 36 kb)

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Lei, L., Liang, D., Yu, D. et al. Human health risk assessment of heavy metals in the irrigated area of Jinghui, Shaanxi, China, in terms of wheat flour consumption. Environ Monit Assess 187, 647 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-015-4884-9

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