title: Bioaccessibility, dietary exposure and human risk assessment of heavy metals from market vegetables in Hong Kong revealed with an in vitro gastrointestinal model.
abstract: A systematic survey of heavy metal (HM) concentrations and bioaccessibilities in market vegetables in Hong Kong were carried out for assessing potential health risk to local inhabitants. The average concentrations of Cd, Pb, Cr, Ni, Cu, and Zn in nine major groups of fresh vegetable varied within 0.007-0.053, 0.05-0.17, 0.05-0.24, 0.26-1.1, 0.62-3.0, and 0.96-4.3 mg kg(-1), respectively, and their average bioaccessibilities varied within 21-96%, 20-68%, 24-62%, 29-64%, 30-77%, and 69-94%, respectively. The bioaccessible estimated daily intakes (BEDIs) of Cd, Pb, Cr, Ni, Cu, and Zn from vegetables were far below the tolerable limits. The total bioaccessible target hazard quotient (TBTHQ) of the six HMs was 0.18 and 0.64 for average and high consumers, respectively, with Cd and leafy vegetable being the major risk contributors. Risk assessment of HMs from foods should be modified by taking bioaccessibility into account.
authors.affiliation: Croucher Institute for Environmental Sciences, and Department of Biology, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, PR China. jlhu@issas.ac.cn
authors.forename: Junli
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Fuyong
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Shengchun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Zhihong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Xiangui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Ming Hung
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Wong
mesh_terms: D004032:Diet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D014675:Vegetables / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D012989:Soil Pollutants