Assessment of heavy metals in common foods and their health risk among adults and children of Ludhiana district of Punjab
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Date
2023
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Punjab Agricultural University
Abstract
The present study was conducted to determine the heavy metals in common foods and their health impact on the adults, elderly and children from selected 150 urban and rural households of Ludhiana and Bathinda districts of Punjab. Wheat Chapatis, cooked rice, cooked pulses, cooked vegetables, milk and water samples were collected from the selected households. Heavy metals viz. arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury were determined in the collected samples by ICP-MS. The non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risk was calculated for adults, elderly and children of both genders from heavy metals in food samples. All the four heavy metals were within their permissible limits in all selected foods, milk and water. Except for the target hazard quotient (THQ) of cadmium in chapatis for the selected urban population of Ludhiana district, the THQ of arsenic, cadmium and lead was less than permissible level of 1 for all other foods consumed by the selected population of both the districts. Similarly, the Hazard Index (HI) from all the four metals was more than 1 for chapatis consumed by urban population of Ludhiana district. The selected urban population of Ludhiana district also had cancer risk from lead and cadmium present in chapatis, along with the combined effect of analysed heavy metals. The selected rural adult and elderly population and male children of Bathinda district had carcinogenic risk from arsenic and cadmium in chapatis. The urban male and female children of Ludhiana district had cancer risk from arsenic, whereas rural female children of the district had risk due to cadmium present in chapatis. The urban elderly females of Ludhiana district had carcinogenic risk from arsenic and cadmium present in cooked rice. The urban male and female children of Ludhiana district were also at risk from cadmium in cooked rice. The urban elderly males and female children were at cancer risk from the combined effect of heavy metals in cooked rice. The carcinogenic risk was also observed in urban male children of Ludhiana district from arsenic in cooked pulses. The cadmium in cooked vegetables increased the cancer risk in urban population, rural adults and children of Ludhiana district and urban and rural children of Bathinda district. In Bathinda district, rural adult males and females and urban female children district had cancer risk from arsenic in milk, whereas, rural male children had cancer risk from cadmium in milk. The rural population of Bathinda district was also at risk of developing cancer from arsenic and cadmium in water. Blood arsenic and lead levels of 10 and 20% adult males and 20 and 30% adult females of a selected urban area of Ludhiana district exceeded the prescribed limit of these heavy metals, respectively. The results concluded that wheat chapati consumption leads to both non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risk among urban population of Ludhiana district. As heavy metals detected in food and water pose a serious health risk to the population of two prominent districts of Punjab, hence appropriate measures should be a top priority of the state to prevent accumulation of heavy metals in the food chain in order to safe guard the health of its people.
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Kharkwal, Vineeta (2023). Assessment of heavy metals in common foods and their health risk among adults and children of Ludhiana district of Punjab (Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation). Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India.