Heavy metals and essential elements in Italian cereals

ABSTRACT

Crops intended for human nutrition and food production containing different essential trace elements, such as copper and zinc, could be contaminated by toxic metals like cadmium and lead. The interrelationship between micronutrients and contaminant trace elements in different cereals was investigated in North-western Italy, where both agricultural and industrial activities are present. Elemental concentrations in sampled cereals were assessed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Rice, oats and barley reached the highest median levels for Al, Cd and Pb content, while corn samples were less contaminated by toxic metals. Regarding essential elements highest median values of Cu and Zn were both found in barley, while Ni median content was higher in oats. Rice had the lowest median levels of essential elements. The correlation study between toxic and essential elements seemed to demonstrate fixed trends in analysed samples, corroborating the importance of a different diet to limit potential adverse effects caused by toxic elements.

KEYWORDS:

• Heavy metals
• essential elements
• ICP-MS
• cereals
• Italy

Acknowledgements

The research was funded by the Italian Ministry of Health, as part of the projects “Environmental contaminants in vegetables: study of new analytical methods for their detection” (grant no. IZS PLV 15/09 RC) and “Aluminium in cereals: development and optimisation of a method in ICP-MS and monitoring of a study area in Piedmont Region” (grant no. IZS PLV 21/10 RC).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Italian Ministry of Health: [Grant Number IZS PLV 15/09 RC]; [Grant Number IZS PLV 21/10 RC].