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Moringa oleifera Lam. (MO) is a small size multipurpose tree of approximately 5 to 10 m in height which is cultivated all over the world. The study was conducted in the Guinea Savanna and the semideciduous forest zones of Ghana in December 2011 to compare the nutrient levels of MO leaves from the two agro-ecological zones. Leaf samples were collected from three randomly selected districts in each ecological zone for proximate and chemical analysis of some macro and micro nutrient. The results show no significant difference in crude protein and carbohydrate levels of MO leaves from the two ecological zones, however MO leaves from the semi-deciduous forest zone recorded a slightly higher mean crude protein value of 26.54% than the Guinea savanna value of 25.65%. MO leaves from the semi-deciduous forest and the Guinea Savanna recorded mean calcium values of 1880 and 1474.33 mg per 100 g of leaf powder, respectively. The comparison of mean values of potassium and iron of MO leaves showed no significant difference between MO leaves from the two ecological zones. The research concluded that agro ecological zonation had no significant effect on the levels of most nutrients in MO leaves.

This study assessed non-cancerous health risk from exposure to mercury, arsenic and cadmium via oral ingestion of contaminated water bodies by resident children and adults in Nangodi, Upper East region, Ghana in accordance with US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). The mean concentration of arsenic, mercury and cadmium in water bodies in the study area for arsenic ranges from 0.0120 to 0.0653 mg/L; 0.0048 to 0.202 mg/L for mercury and 0.2665 to 1.090 mg/L for cadmium. These mean levels of arsenic, mercury and cadmium in water bodies from the study area were used as input parameters in calculating the non-cancerous health risk. The results of the non-cancerous health risk faced by resident children in the study area from exposure to mercury in a dug-well at Nakpadana is 6.7 via central tendency exposure parameter (CTE) and 13.0 via high end exposure parameter (HEE); in the case of arsenic we have 1.9 by CTE parameters and 3.7 by HEE parameters respectively, whilst for cadmium we had 29.0 and 58.0 by CTE and HEE parameters respectively. The non-cancerous health risk results expressed in terms of hazard quotient obtained in this study for both resident children and adults in most cases exceeded the acceptable USEPA hazard quotient value of 1.0, which suggests that resident adults and children are at high risk of showing symptoms associated with non-cancerous effects of exposure to arsenic, mercury and cadmium such as low IQ, tremor, renal failure, etc.

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