The Carcinogenic and Non-Carcinogenic Health Risks of Metal(oid)s Bioaccumulation in Leafy Vegetables: A Consumption Advisory

Abstract

High levels of metal(oid)s in soil or food pose a severe health risk to humans. The potential toxicants find their way into the living systems via the food chain, following bioaccumulation in edible plants, including leafy vegetables grown in or irrigated with contaminated soil or water, respectively. The current study determines the levels of vanadium (V), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), arsenic (As), lead (Pb), and cadmium (Cd) in leafy vegetables (rocca, coriander, and parsley) grown in different open irrigated farms in Qatar and investigates their potential human health risks (carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic). The mean concentrations of V, Cr, Ni, Cu, As, Cd, and Pb in rocca are 17.09, 6.41, 1.70, 13.04, 14.72, 0.90, and 6.36 mg/kg, respectively; in coriander are 15.91, 6.03, 1.38, 15.30, 16.86, 0.43, and 5.00 mg/kg, respectively; and in parsley are 16.25, 6.26, 2.19, 17.97, 16.60, 0.51, and 5.46 mg/kg, respectively. The mean levels of V, Cr, As, Cd, and Pb were observed to be higher than the recommended World Health Organization (WHO)/Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) values. The target hazard quotient (THQ) values of Cu and As were found to be greater than 1 for the adult population. For the two elements (i.e., Cu and As), the THQ varied from 1.03 to 1.42 and 1.17 to 1.44 in men. In women, the values ranged from 1.20 to 1.65 and 1.35 to 1.55, for Cu and As, respectively. The hazard index (HI) of rocca, coriander, and parsley was 3.99, 4.10, and 4.43, respectively, in men, 4.64, 4.76, and 5.14, respectively, among women. The carcinogenic risk (CR) of Cr, Ni, and As ranged from 7.16 × 10−4 to 7.61 × 10−4, 5.57 × 10−4 to 8.85 × 10−4, and 5.24 × 10−3 to 6.01 × 10−3, respectively, in men. In women, it ranged from 8.31 × 10−4 to 8.83 × 10−4, 6.47 × 10−4 to 1.03 × 10−3, and 6.09 × 10−3 to 6.97 × 10−3, respectively, in all vegetables. In crux, the consumption of rocca, coriander, and parsley grown in selected farms in Qatar poses a major health risk (both noncarcinogenic and carcinogenic) to the consumer. As a result, we recommend that vegetables grown in the studied areas be closely monitored to protect consumer health.

Investigation of Heavy Metal Accumulation in Vegetables and Health Risk to Humans From Their Consumption

“…Many of them are environmentally persistent and non-degradable contaminants. Initially, they are deposited on the soil surface, then absorbed by the apoplast of plant roots and further distributed and accumulated into their edible and non-edible parts, posing an imminent danger to the food chain (Ahmad et al, 2019;Alsafran et al, 2021). A very less amount of heavy metals can also be taken up by vegetables by atmospheric deposition (Prasad et al, 2021).…”

Quantification of insecticides in commercial seafood sold in East Asian markets: risk assessment for consumers

“…Although these HQs are calculated considering different assumptions, all of them measure the development of potential non-carcinogenic health risk effects (Cruzeiro et al 2018;Alsafran et al 2021;Ju et al 2022).…”

“…Evaluation of the cancer risk (CR) presented to human health by accidental ingestion of potential carcinogenic insecticides was calculated by multiplying the estimated average daily intake (EADI; mg/day/kg body weight) by the cancer slope factor of the compound (CSF; mg/kg/day) (Alsafran et al 2021;Bodor et al 2021):…”

“…The CSF was obtained from the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA, 2021), and from other published works (Jiang et al 2005;Akoto et al 2015). The cumulative cancer risk (TCR), was calculated as (Alsafran et al 2021): If the cumulative values are within the range 10 -6 -10 -4 , admissible cancer risk levels are expected, which means that the probability for cancer development during a human lifetime (70 years) is 1/1,000,000, or 1/10,000, respectively. Generally speaking, a cumulative cancer risk higher than 10 −4 is not accepted, and the maximum tolerable value is 10 −5 (Bodor et al 2021).…”

Assessment of Potentially Toxic Elements and Associated Health Risk in Bottled Drinking Water for Babies

“…The most commonly used health risk assessment model is the one recommended by United State Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) [10]. This model includes a carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic analysis, based on parameters like estimated daily intake (EDI), target hazard quotient (THQ), hazard index (HI) and cancer risk (CR) [12].…”