Measurement of Heavy Metals in Bread with an Emphasis on the Risk Assessment of Aluminum

Human beings are exposed to Aluminum (Al) and heavy metals from different sources. It has been for years that scientists are studied effects of Aluminum (Al) and heavy metals on human health. It has been found that there is a correlation between Al concentrations and some diseases like Alzheimer, heavy metals and cancer. So it is of importance to do a risk analysis study and find the chances of getting non-cancerous diseases. 

Different types of flat bread, cakes and muffins were randomly collected in Tehran. Samples were prepared according to a modified AOAC Official Method. Subsequently, test solutions were analyzed for Al, Pb, Hg, Ni, As, Cd, Co, Cr and Cu by Inductively Coupled Plasma/Optical Emission Spectrophotometry (ICP-OES).

Concentration, Daily Intake, National Theoretical Maximum Daily intake for aluminum in Iran and Hazard quotient were calculated.  The lowest concentration of Al was found in Sangak and the highest level of Al was found in Taftan. According to the results, Al concentration in cakes (mean: 40.44) was greatest. The significance of the difference between each group of breads was determined using the One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and the least square difference (LSD) test was Duncan. Daily intake (DI) for aluminum was o.26 mg/kg and NTMDI for adults is 0.005. HQ for Al in all bread was less than 1.

 The average of ADI is 92% of Provisional Tolerable Daily Intake and HQ was less than 1 in all samples so there is no risk for non-cancer disease.