title: Trace elements and toxic metals in intensively produced tomatoes (lycopersicon esculentum).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Tomato is considered a healthy food due to its high content in lycopene and other health-promoting natural compounds. Tomatoes have, undoubtedly, assumed the status of a food with functional properties, considering the epidemiological evidence of reducing the risk of certain types of cancers.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Samples of tomatoes from Morocco were analyzed for the mineral composition.
  
  
  METHODS
  94 tomato samples from Morocco were analyzed. Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (FAAS) was used to determine essential elements (Copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn) and zinc (Zn)) and Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry with Graphite Furnace (GAAS) was used to analyzed cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean concentrations were 0.17 mg/kg, 0.73 mg/kg, 0.20 mg/kg, 0.44 mg/kg, 7.58 μg/kg and 15.8 μg/kg for Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cd and Pb, respectively. The highest contribution to the intakes was observed for Cu (0.67% for adults) while that Zn showed the lowest contribution (0.14% for adult males and 0.20% for adult females).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Tomatoes are a good source of essential elements for the diet, mainly iron and zinc. Tomatoes consumption does not significantly affect the intake of heavy metals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Toxicology, University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Luis
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hernández
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rubio
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: González-Weller
authors.forename: Á
authors.initials: Á
authors.lastname: Gutiérrez
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Revert
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hardisson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D015386:Hazardous Substances / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000737:chemistry*; D008297:Male; D008670:Metals / Q000032:analysis*; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis; D009018:Morocco; D011786:Quality Control; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic; D014131:Trace Elements / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D015386:Hazardous Substances; D008670:Metals; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D014131:Trace Elements