Dietary exposure and health risk assessment for 11 minerals and trace elements in Yaoundé: the Cameroonian Total Diet Study

Abstract

Dietary exposure to 11 elements was assessed by the Total Diet Study (TDS) method. Sixty-four pooled samples representing 96.5% of the diet in Yaoundé, Cameroon, were prepared as consumed before analysis. Consumption data were sourced from a household budget survey. Dietary exposures were compared with nutritional or health-based guidance values (HBGV) and to worldwide TDS results. Elevated prevalence of inadequate intake was estimated for calcium (71.6%), iron (89.7%), magnesium (31.8%), zinc (46.9%) and selenium (87.3%). The percentage of the study population exceeding the tolerable upper intake levels was estimated as <3.2% for calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc and cobalt; 19.1% of the population exceeded the HBGV for sodium. No exceedance of the HBGV for inorganic mercury was predicted in the population. The margin of exposure ranged from 0.91 to 25.0 for inorganic arsenic depending on the reference point. The "Fish" food group was the highest contributor to intake for calcium (65%), cobalt (32%) and selenium (96%). This group was the highest contributor to the exposure to total arsenic (71%) and organic mercury (96%). The "Cereals and cereal products" highly contributed to iron (26%), zinc (26%) and chromium (25%) intakes. The "Tubers and starches" highly contributed to magnesium (39%) and potassium (52%) intakes. This study highlights the dietary deficiency of some essential elements and a low dietary exposure to toxic elements in Yaoundé.

What do we know about exposure of Iranians to cadmium? Findings from a systematic review

“…The mean cadmium content in legume samples observed was 0.14 mg kg in Cameroon (Gimou et al 2013), and 53 μg kg −1 in Hong Kong (Chen et al 2014). The mean Cd content in Iranian legumes was higher than that in other studies.…”

Dietary exposure and health risk assessment for 14 toxic and essential trace elements in Yaoundé: the Cameroonian total diet study

“…The mean number of purchase per food items was 19.6 (a minimum of 2, a maximum of 400) depending on the size and the availability of food items in the market. The food selection criteria and sampling protocol are described elsewhere (Gimou et al 2008(Gimou et al , 2013(Gimou et al , 2014.…”

“…Consumption data and food sampling The food consumption data were derived from the 2nd Cameroonian Household Budget Survey (HBS) carried out by the National Institute of Statistics from October to November 2001 named "Enquête Camerounaise Auprès des Ménages, ECAM II" (Institut National de la Statistique 2002), as fully described in Gimou et al (2008Gimou et al ( , 2013Gimou et al ( , 2014. A total of 1773 individual food samples were selected and purchased, representing 203 food items.…”

“…TDSs are conducted according to a standardised method to assess the safety of the food supply (WHO 2005a; WHO/ICPS 2005; EFSA/FAO/WHO 2011). Many countries worldwide have conducted their own TDS to assess dietary exposure to trace elements, like Lebanon (Nasreddine et al 2006(Nasreddine et al , 2010, France (Leblanc et al 2005;ANSES 2011;Arnich et al 2012), Italy (Lombardi-Boccia et al 2003;Turconi et al 2009), Chile (Muñoz et al 2005), Korea (Lee et al 2006), Canada (Health Canada 2003, 2006, Australia-New Zealand (FSANZ 2003(FSANZ , 2008(FSANZ , 2011, New Zealand (NZFSA 2005), the United States (Egan et al 2002), and Cameroon (Gimou et al 2013).…”

Essential trace element analysis of human breast milk

“…These trace elements are considered essential for human physiological functioning and can only be acquired from dietary intake before being stored in, or eliminated from the body (49,50). To date, trace elements that are recognised by the World Health Organisation as essential include zinc, copper, selenium, manganese, chromium, magnesium, cobalt, iron, fluoride, potassium, molybdenum, iodine and lithium (46).…”