Urban Dietary Heavy Metal Intake from Protein Foods and Vegetables in Dar Es Salaam

Contamination of food and food products by heavy metals has made dietary intake as one of the major routes of these harmful elements to human beings. The human dietary intake of heavy metals cadmium, copper, lead and zinc from protein-foods (beans, meat, fish, milk) and green vegetables consumed daily from restaurants and street food-vendor kiosks in Dar es Salaam were determined using the Total Diet Study (TDS) method. The cooked food was bought from the restaurants and street food-vendors at several city locations (i.e. Buguruni, Manzese, Mwenge, Temeke and Ubungo) over several months and analyzed. Heavy metal concentrations were determined by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS) after wet digestion of the edible portions of pooled samples of the foodstuff. The results showed significant variation in heavy metal concentration among the foodstuff and at the different locations. The results were compared to the FAO/WHO levels for Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) and Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake (PTWI) to estimate risk of toxicity and to the US Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) and/or Estimated Safe and Adequate Daily Dietary Intake (ESADDI) for a deficiency in intake. The average weekly dietary intake of cadmium and lead from protein-foods and vegetables ranged from 0.20 - 0.42 μg/kg-bw/week (i.e. 2.82 - 6.00% of PTWI) and 4.77 - 9.83 μg/kg-bw/week (i.e. 68.1 – 140.4% of PTWI) respectively. These dietary intakes were below the ADI values of 0.5 μg/kg-bw/day and 3.6 μg/kg-bw/day of the WHO for cadmium and lead respectively. The daily dietary intake of zinc and copper at all the locations were also below the ADI for these elements, the average being 21.5% for copper and 19.8% for zinc. The results show clearly that the daily urban dietary intake of copper and zinc, from protein foods and vegetables along main streets at the above locations, was acceptable.