TY - JOUR
T1 - Potential health risk and bio-accessibility of metal and minerals in saltpetre (a food additive)
AU - Nkansah, Marian Asantewah
AU - Korankye, Mavis
AU - Darko, Godfred
AU - Dodd, Matt
AU - Opoku, Francis
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023
PY - 2023/3
Y1 - 2023/3
N2 - Food additives are used to enhance freshness, safety, appearance, flavour, and texture of food. Depending on the absorbed dose, exposure method, and length of exposure, heavy metals in diet may have a negative impact on human health. The X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) Analyzer from Niton Thermo Scientific (Mobile Test S, NDTr-XL3t-86956, com 24) was used in this work to measure the heavy metal content in saltpetre, a food additive that mostly contains potassium nitrate. The average essential metal concentrations in the samples were determined to be 27044.27 ± 10905.18 mg kg−1, 24521.10 ± 6564.28 mg kg−1, 2418.33 ± 461.50 mg kg−1, and 4.615 ± 3.59 mg kg−1 for Ca, K, Fe and Zn respectively. Toxic metals (As, Pb) were present in the saltpetre samples at 4.13 ± 2.47 mg kg−1 and 2.11 ± 1.87 mg kg−1 average concentrations. No traces of mercury or cadmium were detected. Studies on exposure, health risks, and bio-accessibility identified arsenic as a significant risk factor for potential illnesses. The need to monitor heavy metal content of saltpetre and any potential health effects on consumers is brought to light by this study.
AB - Food additives are used to enhance freshness, safety, appearance, flavour, and texture of food. Depending on the absorbed dose, exposure method, and length of exposure, heavy metals in diet may have a negative impact on human health. The X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) Analyzer from Niton Thermo Scientific (Mobile Test S, NDTr-XL3t-86956, com 24) was used in this work to measure the heavy metal content in saltpetre, a food additive that mostly contains potassium nitrate. The average essential metal concentrations in the samples were determined to be 27044.27 ± 10905.18 mg kg−1, 24521.10 ± 6564.28 mg kg−1, 2418.33 ± 461.50 mg kg−1, and 4.615 ± 3.59 mg kg−1 for Ca, K, Fe and Zn respectively. Toxic metals (As, Pb) were present in the saltpetre samples at 4.13 ± 2.47 mg kg−1 and 2.11 ± 1.87 mg kg−1 average concentrations. No traces of mercury or cadmium were detected. Studies on exposure, health risks, and bio-accessibility identified arsenic as a significant risk factor for potential illnesses. The need to monitor heavy metal content of saltpetre and any potential health effects on consumers is brought to light by this study.
KW - Bio-accessibility
KW - Exposure
KW - Health risk assessment
KW - Heavy metals
KW - Saltpetre
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85149070954
U2 - 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e13174
DO - 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e13174
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85149070954
SN - 2405-8440
VL - 9
JO - Heliyon
JF - Heliyon
IS - 3
M1 - e13174
ER -
