scholarly journals A Review of the Health Implications of Heavy Metals in Food Chain in Nigeria

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ugonna C. Nkwunonwo ◽  
Precious O. Odika ◽  
Nneka I. Onyia
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
Knowledge Base ◽  
Food Chain ◽  
Environmental Science ◽  
Heavy Metal Contamination ◽  
Ecosystem Processes ◽  
Actual Situation ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Food Components ◽  
Geographical Scale

Heavy metals such as Zn, Pb, Fe, and Cu are abundant in the environment and contribute largely to the sustainability and equilibrium of ecosystem processes. However, because of their bioaccumulation, nondegradability, and the excessive amounts in which they exist, these metals contaminate the food chain and subsequently become a source of toxicity to human beings and the entire ecological function. This is a major issue of concern within the study of environmental science and geochemistry. Although there is a global significance to the issue, it seems more immediate for the developing countries (DCs) such as Nigeria, where the pressure of the teeming population escalates the exigency for human sustainability, food security, and total eradication of hunger. Within the Nigerian context, many studies have examined this all-important issue, but most of these studies are fragmented and limited within the purview of mostly individual states and localities within the country. Taken on a wider geographical scale, the discussions and perspectives of these studies on heavy metal contamination of the food chain offer insufficient insight and expose merely a snapshot of the actual situation. As a result of this, a country-wide knowledge base of the implications of heavy metals on the food chain is lacking. Thus, the present study synthesises existing literature and their findings to create a knowledge base on the vulnerability of the food chain in Nigeria. Aquatic foods, fruits, vegetables, and major staple food such as tubers are the major host of carcinogenic and mutagenic components of heavy metals in Nigeria. This study motivates the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), along with other food and agricultural agencies, to intensify their efforts in monitoring and analysing food components, and we advise consumers to eat with certain degrees of caveat.

Safe Use of Wastewater in Agriculture Through Bioremediation Processes

2021 ◽  
pp. 354-368
Author(s):  
Rachana Dubey ◽  
Arbind Kumar Choudhary ◽  
Janki Sharan Mishra ◽  
Ashutosh Upadhyaya ◽  
Sharad Kumar Dwivedi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Heavy Metals ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Water Treatment ◽  
Food Chain ◽  
Wastewater Reuse ◽  
Recycle Water ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Water Treatment System ◽  
Bioremediation Processes

Population growth, industrialisation, urbanisation, and climate change have created huge pressure on freshwater resources to fulfil the demand. Approx. 70-80% of the freshwater supply returns as wastewater, which is difficult to tackle and manage. We need to tackle the freshwater demand from different sectors like domestic, industrial, and agriculture. Most important is how to use the wastewater safely in agriculture. Therefore, it is an apt time to refocus on ways to recycle water especially in sectors like agriculture and for ecosystem services. The major concern in using wastewater in agriculture is its quality as the wastewater may carry pathogens, heavy metals, and many other pollutants, which might reach to human beings and animals via food chain. A solution to wastewater reuse is through bioremediation techniques. Bioremediation should be considered as a feasible and futuristic technology for safe use of wastewater in agriculture as it will reduce the burden on centralised water treatment system as well as it being economic and eco-friendly.

scholarly journals HEAVY METALS IN THE FOOD CHAIN - CONSEQUENCES OF POLLUTING WATER BODIES

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 07-17
Author(s):  
T V Ramchandra ◽  
N R Narayan
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
Heavy Metal ◽  
Food Chain ◽  
Lake Water ◽  
Inductively Coupled Plasma ◽  
Industrial Effluent ◽  
Bone Diseases ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Toxic Heavy Metals

Purpose of the study: Heavy metals in food (vegetables, etc.) are harmful to humans due to their non-biodegradable nature, long biological half-lives, and their potential to accumulate in different body parts. Prolonged consumption of such heavy metal contaminated vegetables through foodstuffs may lead to chronic accumulation of heavy metals in human beings' kidneys and liver, disrupting numerous biochemical processes, leading to cardiovascular, neural, kidney and bone diseases. Method: The study on heavy metal concentrations in vegetables grown in the command areas of Varthur lake, Bangalore. The collected vegetable samples were analyzed using ICP-OES (Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectroscopy) technique to assess the level of heavy metal in acid digested samples. Main Findings: The study has shown a significant accumulation of heavy metals in vegetables that correlated well with its concentrations in soil and lake water. The prolonged irrigation of vegetables using contaminated lake water has led to soil contamination, which ultimately resulted in contamination of vegetables due to the uptake and accumulation of heavy metals in edible portions of vegetables. Application of the Study: Urgent attention is needed to devise and implement appropriate means of regular monitoring of the toxic heavy metals from domestic sewage and industrial effluent and provide proper advice and support for the safe and productive use of wastewater for irrigation purposes to prevent excessive buildup of heavy metals in the food chain.

scholarly journals Mitigation of heavy metals in different vegetables through biological washing techniques

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 40
Author(s):  
Muhammad Umair Sattar ◽  
Faqir Muhammad Anjum ◽  
Aysha Sameen
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Heavy Metal Contamination ◽  
Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Industrial Emissions ◽  
High Incidence ◽  
Toxic Food ◽  
Biological Solutions ◽  
Natural Reserves

<p>Availability of nutritious and healthy food is the foremost challenging issue in all over the word. Vegetables are essential part in human diet and considered as natural reserves of nutrients gifted by Almighty Allah to human beings. Heavy metals are among the most toxic food pollutants and their intake through diet leads to several disorders. The sources of heavy metal contamination include waste water irrigation, industrial emissions, transportation and application of metal-based pesticides. In Pakistan this situation is more alarming as vegetables grown in peri-urban areas have shown high incidence of heavy metals accumulation. In this study effort was made to mitigate different heavy metals (Ar, Cd, Cr and Pb) in cauliflower, spinach, okra and brinjal collected from peri-urban areas through washing with different biological solutions. Heavy metals contents were determined by using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS). Vegetable showed high load of heavy metals in unwashed form that reduced significantly by washing with different biological solutions. Among the different biological solutions, washing of vegetables with 8% ginger solution was found to be more effective.</p>

A Review on Measurement of Concentration of Heavy Metals in the Muscles of Mugil cephalus

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 611-611
Author(s):  
Fehmeeda Afzal Fehmeeda Afzal ◽  
Sonia Tariq Sonia Tariq ◽  
Ashraf Nadeem Ashraf Nadeem ◽  
Samiullah Samiullah ◽  
Jafar Iqbal Jafar Iqbal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
Heavy Metal ◽  
Food Chain ◽  
Industrial Waste ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Dry Weight ◽  
Important Class ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Aquatic Life ◽  
Safe Limits

Heavy metals are an important class of compounds that is increasing in environment due to the anthropogenic activities. They are extremely toxic to human beings and animals. Many of them enter the water through industrial waste and effect the aquatic life. Fishes, for example, are an important source of food and they get effected by heavy metals when they ingest the infected sediments, mud and water. Heavy metals enter the food chain when infected fishes are consumed and effect humans as well. We highlight the recent (10-15 years) published work on measuring the levels of heavy metal in Mugilcephalus (Flathead mullet) fish. Out of all the methods compared and discussed in this paper, Atomic absorption spectroscopy was found to be the most preferred method and most commonly used by researchers because of its ease and cost. The most commonly used unit for metal detection in muscles was g/g (dry weight).The results also summarize advantages and drawbacks of methods used to digest muscles of the said species and heavy metal measurement. In selected studies, the levels of metals were also compared with the safe limits set by WHO, FAO and USEPA. This gives a lot of information about the edible fitness of the M.cephalus.

Heavy metal contamination of animal feedstuffs – a new survey

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Elliott ◽  
A. Frio ◽  
T. Jarman
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
Heavy Metal ◽  
Food Chain ◽  
Heavy Metal Contamination ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Sampling Period ◽  
Toxic Substances ◽  
Contamination Levels ◽  
Cadmium And Lead ◽  
The Eu

SummaryContamination of feedstuffs and ingredients with heavy metals poses a major problem for animal health and the transmission of toxic substances within the human food chain, as these elements can be accumulated into meat, egg and milk products. This paper reports on the levels of the three metals, arsenic, cadmium and lead, that exceed EU permitted levels, within premixes and complete feeds (total of 3417 samples) destined for a variety of animal species and taken from different countries during the period 2009–2016. For this period, 20% of all samples were contaminated at levels above the EU limit. In complete feed, ruminants were at the highest risk of exposure with 47% of samples being contaminated. Lead posed the major risk for minerals and cadmium posed the highest risk for premixes during the sampling period. When compared by country, contamination levels varied widely, with the highest contamination determined for Canada with 50% of samples being above the EU limit. To mitigate problems with heavy metals in animal feeds, due diligence in terms of sampling and testing is a necessary tool to evaluate level of risk. Research has shown that trace minerals can be sources of these heavy metals so the industry should be more diligent regarding their provider's quality guarantees. In addition, feeds identified with contamination should not be fed to animals to ensure that these heavy metal toxins are not passed into edible food products, thus providing safety in the food chain.

scholarly journals Comparative analysis of heavy metal contamination in some common tubers and vegetables of Kerala

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvy Mathew ◽  
P. T. Teenamol
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
Heavy Metal ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Metal Contamination ◽  
Heavy Metal Contamination ◽  
Leafy Vegetables ◽  
Cadmium Content ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Potential Health ◽  
Potential Health Risk

Leafy vegetables and tubers contaminated by heavy metals will cause potential health risk to human beings. An analysis was carried out to study the heavy metal contamination in tubers and leafy vegetables at Kottayam district, Kerala. The results indicated that higher levels of lead were recorded in all of the samples analyzed when compared to the WHO permissible limits (0.1 mg/kg) for tubers and leafy vegetables, except in Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott., collected from Erattupetta market. Cadmium content was higher in both the tubers and leafy vegetables collected from Changanacherry market. Therefore, regular assessment of the accumulation of heavy metals in leafy vegetables and tubers is the need of the era.

Impact of heavy metal contamination : An overview

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Subhash Chandra Yadav
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metal ◽  
Food Chain ◽  
Metal Contamination ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Heavy Metal Contamination ◽  
Oral Intake ◽  
Contaminated Site ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Metabolic Activities ◽  
Management Approaches

The issue of heavy metal pollution is very much concerned because of their toxicity for plant, animal and human beings and their lack of biodegradability. Excess concentrations of heavy metals have adverse effects on plant metabolic activities hence affect the food production qualitatively and quantitatively. Heavy metal when reaches human tissues through various absorption pathways such as direct ingestion, dermal contact, diet through the soil-food chain, inhalation and oral intake may seriously affect their health. Therefore, several management practices are being applied to minimize metal toxicity by attenuating the availability of metal to the plants. Some of the traditional methods are either extremely costly or they are simply applied to isolate contaminated site. The biology-based technology like use of hypermental accumulator plants occurring naturally or created by transgenic technology, in recent years draw great attention to remediate heavy metal contamination. Recently applications of nanoparticle for metal remediation are also attracting great research interest due to their exceptional adsorption and mechanical properties and unique electrical property, highly chemical stability and large specific surface area. Thus, the present review deals with different management approaches to reduce level of metal contamination in soil and finally of the food chain

scholarly journals Pollution Status of Pakistan: A Retrospective Review on Heavy Metal Contamination of Water, Soil, and Vegetables

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir Waseem ◽  
Jahanzaib Arshad ◽  
Farhat Iqbal ◽  
Ashif Sajjad ◽  
Zahid Mehmood ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
Heavy Metal ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Food Chain ◽  
Metal Contamination ◽  
Heavy Metal Contamination ◽  
Environmental Pollutants ◽  
Anthropogenic Pressure ◽  
Trace Heavy Metals ◽  
Iron And Zinc

Trace heavy metals, such as arsenic, cadmium, lead, chromium, nickel, and mercury, are important environmental pollutants, particularly in areas with high anthropogenic pressure. In addition to these metals, copper, manganese, iron, and zinc are also important trace micronutrients. The presence of trace heavy metals in the atmosphere, soil, and water can cause serious problems to all organisms, and the ubiquitous bioavailability of these heavy metal can result in bioaccumulation in the food chain which especially can be highly dangerous to human health. This study reviews the heavy metal contamination in several areas of Pakistan over the past few years, particularly to assess the heavy metal contamination in water (ground water, surface water, and waste water), soil, sediments, particulate matter, and vegetables. The listed contaminations affect the drinking water quality, ecological environment, and food chain. Moreover, the toxicity induced by contaminated water, soil, and vegetables poses serious threat to human health.

scholarly journals Mitigation of heavy metals in different vegetables through biological washing techniques

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 40
Author(s):  
Muhammad Umair Sattar ◽  
Faqir Muhammad Anjum ◽  
Aysha Sameen
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Heavy Metal Contamination ◽  
Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Industrial Emissions ◽  
High Incidence ◽  
Toxic Food ◽  
Biological Solutions ◽  
Natural Reserves

<p>Availability of nutritious and healthy food is the foremost challenging issue in all over the word. Vegetables are essential part in human diet and considered as natural reserves of nutrients gifted by Almighty Allah to human beings. Heavy metals are among the most toxic food pollutants and their intake through diet leads to several disorders. The sources of heavy metal contamination include waste water irrigation, industrial emissions, transportation and application of metal-based pesticides. In Pakistan this situation is more alarming as vegetables grown in peri-urban areas have shown high incidence of heavy metals accumulation. In this study effort was made to mitigate different heavy metals (Ar, Cd, Cr and Pb) in cauliflower, spinach, okra and brinjal collected from peri-urban areas through washing with different biological solutions. Heavy metals contents were determined by using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS). Vegetable showed high load of heavy metals in unwashed form that reduced significantly by washing with different biological solutions. Among the different biological solutions, washing of vegetables with 8% ginger solution was found to be more effective.</p>

Polymorphism of p-450 cytochrome detoxication genes in adolescents depending on the degree of contamination of the organism by heavy metals

2020 ◽  
Vol 99 (5) ◽  
pp. 478-482
Author(s):  
N. P. Setko ◽  
A. G. Setko ◽  
Ekaterina V. Bulycheva ◽  
A. V. Tyurin ◽  
E. Yu. Kalinina
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Heavy Metal Contamination ◽  
Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry ◽  
The Body ◽  
Lead And Cadmium ◽  
Cyp2b6 Gene ◽  
Cytochrome P 450 ◽  
Gene Cyp1a1 ◽  
Group 1

Introduction. Changes in the body of children and adolescents aimed at adapting to environmental factors are determined by genetic polymorphism in xenobiotic biotransformation genes, determining the degree of susceptibility of the child’s body to pollutants, which is the basis of modern personalized preventive medicine when managing risks to the health of the child population under the influence of environmental factors. Material and methods. Trace elements, including heavy metals, lead and cadmium, were determined in the hair of 256 practically healthy teenagers by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Depending on the level of content of the latter, two groups of adolescents were formed to determine six genes of the cytochrome P-450 family. Group 1 consisted of adolescents whose cadmium lead content exceeded the average Russian indices. The second group included adolescents whose heavy metals were above the level of average Russian standards. Results. Studies have shown that in adolescents of the 1st group, compared with the data of adolescents of the 2nd group, an increase in the number of carriers of two mutant alleles at the locus rs 1048943 (gene CYP1A1) is 3.08 times, rs 464621 (gene CYP1A1) is 1. 8 times; locus rs 2069522 (CYP1A2 gene) 3.63 times; locus rs 1799853 (CYP2C9 * 2 gene) 4.5 times; locus rs 1057910 (gene CYP2C9 * 3) 3.8 times and locus rs 2279343 (gene CYP2B6) 4.25 times. Moreover, carriers of two normal alleles in adolescents of the first group at the locus rs 1048943 (gene CYP1A1) were 5.14 times; locus rs 2279343 (CYP2B6 gene) was 6.5 fold less than among adolescents of the 2nd group; and at the locus rs 464621 (gene CYP1A1), rs 2069522 (gene CYP1A2), rs 1799853 (gene CYP2C9 * 2), rs 1057910 (gene CYP2C9 * 3) there were no carriers of normal homozygotes. Conclusion. Group 1 adolescents with heavy metal contamination of the body are carriers significantly in a greater number of pathological mutations in the genes of the cytochrome P-450 detoxification system in comparison with data from group 2 adolescents.

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