Monitoring heavy metal contents in food and hair in a sample of young Spanish subjects

González‐Muñoz, María José; Peña, A.; Meseguer, I.

doi:10.1016/j.fct.2008.06.004

Cited by 74 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…For example, hair mercury concentration was shown to be a reliable biomarker for methylmercury exposure [5]. Other elements have been also measured in hair and references values have been proposed in specific populations [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] However, the use of hair analysis has several limitations. One problem relies in the difficulty to distinguish between endogenous (absorbed into the blood and incorporated into the hair) and exogenous contamination (derived from external contamination) [23,24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hair Trace Elements Concentration to Describe Polymetallic Mining Waste Exposure in Bolivian Altiplano

Barbieri

Cournil

Sarkis

et al. 2010

Biol Trace Elem Res

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Severe polymetallic contamination is frequently observed in the mining communities of Bolivian Altiplano. We evaluated hair trace elements concentrations at the population level to characterise exposure profile in different contexts of contact with mining and metallurgical pollution. We sampled 242 children aged 7 to 12 years in schools from five Oruro districts located in different contexts of potential contamination. Hair trace elements concentrations were measured using ICP-MS (Pb, As, Hg, Cd, Sb, Sn, Bi, Ag, Ni, Se, Cu, Cr, Mn, Co and Zn). We compared concentration according to school areas and gender. Concentrations were markedly different depending on school areas. Children from schools near industrial areas were far more exposed to non essential elements than children from downtown and suburban schools, as well as the rural school. The most concentrated non-essential element was Pb (geometric means (SD): 1.6 (1.3) µg/g in rural school; 2.0 (2.3) µg/g in suburban school; 2.3 (3.0) µg/g in downtown school; 14.1 (2.7) µg/g in the mine school and 21.2 (3.3) µg/g in the smelter school). Boys showed higher levels for all non-essential elements while girls had higher levels of Zn. Hair trace elements concentrations highlighted the heterogeneity of exposure profiles, identifying the most contaminated districts.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hair Trace Elements Concentration to Describe Polymetallic Mining Waste Exposure in Bolivian Altiplano

Barbieri

Cournil

Sarkis

et al. 2010

Biol Trace Elem Res

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“…However, the higher lead intestinal absorption (50%) of children in relation to adults (10%), and the retention rates of this potentially toxic element, 30% compared to 5%, is well-documented (González-Muñoz, Peña, & Meseguer, 2008;Reilly, 2002). Similarly, cadmium absorption and retention is also favoured in younger kids (Dabeka & Mckenzie, 1988).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The consumption of lead and cadmium-contaminated foods is the main source of human exposure to these elements (González-Muñoz, Peña, & Meseguer, 2008;Capar, Mindak, & Cheng, 2007;Wilhelm, Wittsiepe, Schrey, Budde, & Idel, 2002). In view of their toxic effects on infants, the monitoring of chemical safety through lead and cadmium analysis of the most widely used infant foods, especially infant cereals, is of paramount importance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation of dietary intake and content of lead and cadmium in infant cereals marketed in Spain

Hernández-Martínez

Navarro-Blasco

2012

Food Control

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Abstract:Lead and cadmium have become highly toxic metallic elements. There is an obvious toxicological impact of these elements on infants since their intestinal absorption is significantly higher than in adults, thus it is desirable to quantify lead and cadmium levels in commonly consumed infant foods. Zeeman background correction, transversely heated graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry, was used to determine both the lead and cadmium content of 91 Spanish infant cereals. Cereals were assessed in terms of different types, cereal predominant in formulation and whether it was obtained organically or conventionally. Preliminary analysis revealed a noticeably higher content of lead and cadmium (median, Q1-Q3) in organic cereals (n = 17, Pb: 26.07; Cd: 18.52;.50 µg kg -1 ) in relation to conventional ones (n =74, Pb: 10.78; Cd: 7.12;.77 µg kg -1 ). Three formulations exceeded European lead maximum levels. Added ingredients (milk, cocoa, fruit and honey) to the cereal base provide lead enrichment. For cadmium, this pattern was observed by cereal based on cocoa, but also the raw materials contributed with a dilution phenomenon, decreasing the final cadmium concentration in infant cereal. Apart from several organically produced cereals, lead content showed a narrow variation, where gluten-free cereals provide lower cadmium content than formulations containing gluten. Dietary intakes of both elements were assessed in comparison with the reference intake values proposed by the EFSA Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain. Organic infant cereals based on honey and cocoa supplied the highest risk intakes of lead and cadmium, respectively. In accordance with the actual state of knowledge on lead and cadmium toxicity and attending to the upper limits calculated from risk intake values set by EFSA, it seems prudent to call for a revision of both heavy metals content regulated by EC to set a maximum guideline values for infant cereal at 55 and 45 µg kg -1 , respectively.

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“…We observed that facilitating flexible face-to-face appointments was necessary to encourage participation, especially for collection of samples (urine and scalp hair) and collect anthropometric measurements. Samples were collected following the methodology described by González-Muñoz et al (2008) [13]; and we appointed a registered general nurse (school nursing) to collect samples and health data from children. During the appointments, parents and participants were debriefed in more detail about the project and the relevance of performing HBM to improve health in the community.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human Biomonitoring Research at De Montfort University: School and University Participants' Recruitment Experience

Pena-Fernandez¹,

Ali²,

Millington³

et al. 2018

INTED Proceedings

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Involving teachers in scientific research can increase schoolchildren's interest in studying science from an early stage which is critical to increase the numbers of high-school students studying scientific subjects. This will impact on the number of students enrolled in university science degrees to satisfy many basic human needs. A group of academics at De Montfort University (DMU, UK) have involved the Ravenhurst Primary School (RPS) in biomedical research, specifically a human biomonitoring (HBM) study involving schoolchildren (aged 6-9 years) and university students (aged 18-22 years) in Leicester (UK) to determine their nutritional status and exposure to metals. We have adopted a school-based approach to recruit participants from both educational arenas following the recommendations for executing HBM studies in Europe [1] with some modifications.Permission from the school authorities was requested after gaining ethical approval from the DMU Research Ethics Committee (Ref. 1674). Parental/student consent was obtained by invitation and appointment letter, with the project details and ethical and data protection aspects written in simple language. Appropriately developed flyers, posters and information leaflets for each audience were also used to enhance the recruitment processes. Scheduling and facilitating flexible face-to-face appointments was critical for collecting the human samples needed for the project (urine and scalp hair) as well as comprehensive details about participants' diet and anthropometric measurements. The involvement of teachers and lecturers in conjunction with a registered general nurse (school nursing) was of paramount importance for achieving these goals, as they were encouraging participation throughout the process. During the appointments, parents and participants were debriefed in more detail about the project and the relevance of performing HBM to improve health in the community.The school-based approach achieved the following results: a) the recruitment of a relevant number of participants (12 schoolchildren and 111 university students); b) the provision of a satisfying educational experience for parents, teachers/academics and participants in both educational arenas; c) the involvement of school-children in scientific research; d) the acquisition of awareness of the impact of environmental contamination by metals on human health; e) informing participants about their diets and body composition (e.g. percentage of body fat) promoting the necessity of adopting a healthy diet and lifestyle.In conclusion, the project was successful in involving School teachers, University lecturers, schoolchildren, University students and community health workers in a research project. It provided an opportunity for educational development, promote staff motivation and students' interest and involvement in scientific research. Teachers updated their biomedical knowledge and skills by participating in this research and learnt new methods to engage schoolchildren (by promoting healthy lifestyl...

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Monitoring heavy metal contents in food and hair in a sample of young Spanish subjects

Cited by 74 publications

References 30 publications

Hair Trace Elements Concentration to Describe Polymetallic Mining Waste Exposure in Bolivian Altiplano

Hair Trace Elements Concentration to Describe Polymetallic Mining Waste Exposure in Bolivian Altiplano

Estimation of dietary intake and content of lead and cadmium in infant cereals marketed in Spain

Human Biomonitoring Research at De Montfort University: School and University Participants' Recruitment Experience

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