Heavy Metals Accumulation and Health Risk Consumption in Some Vegetables, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract

Heavy metals (HM) can enter the human body via food chains or contaminate groundwater resources. The current study aimed to investigate HM contamination in vegetables and its associated health index risk (HIR) in Isfahan, Iran. The lowest amount of HM was observed for Cd and Pb in all vegetables. The highest level of Cadmium content was found in potato (1.15 mg kg-1 dry matter (DM)) and spinach (1.18 mg kg-1 DM). The highest levels of As and Cu were observed in lettuce, while the lowest content of Cu was in the carrot. Moreover, the highest content of N (344 mg kg-1 DM) was obtained in spinach. The As and P were higher than standard amounts, and HIR was higher than 1 for these two elements. Heavy metal's HIR through ingestion vegetables were a great concern, and there has been particularly increased attention to As. A great understanding of the ecological effects of HM on soils and vegetables is needed to develop management options.