Original research article
Essential and non-essential elements in Brazilian infant food and other rice-based products frequently consumed by children and celiac population

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfca.2016.04.005Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Brazilian baby food presented considerable As, Cd and Pb concentration.

  • Estimated daily intake for i-As, Cd and Pb in rice-based food for risk assessment.

  • Seven essential elements were analyzed in rice-based products by ICP-MS.

  • Speciation showed high i-As levels in rice-based products and baby foods.

Abstract

Rice and its derivatives are important source of essential and non-essential elements. Essential elements as cobalt (Co) and selenium (Se) are vital for human homeostasis. However, non-essential elements such as arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) may be present in rice-based food and consequently, people can be exposed—especially children and the celiac population. This study aimed to determine essentials and non-essentials elements in rice-based products and baby food and also to evaluate nutritional risk by estimating the daily intake of non-essential elements. Regarding essential elements, Co and Se presented the highest concentrations in rice flour (56 μg kg−1) and porridge (254 μg kg−1), respectively. For non-essential elements, the highest concentrations of As, Cd and Pb were 104 μg kg−1 (porridge), 16 μg kg−1 (flour), and 188 μg kg−1 (bread), respectively. Total As concentration in Brazilian rice-based baby food was <29 μg kg−1. However, As-speciation revealed inorganic-As (i-As) as the main specie. The highest estimated daily intake of Cd, Pb and i-As were 1.37 (rice-based baby food); 10.39 (pasta); and 3.34 (pasta) μg d−1, respectively. Therefore, continuous food monitoring for nutritional and toxicological purpose is necessary, especially concerning these particular populations and discussions for maximum levels of non-essential elements.

Introduction

In Brazil, some of the first solid food that weaning babies eat is rice and rice containing foods, because of its mildness, lack of allergic reactions and properties to make a palatable porridge. In addition, rice products are essential for celiac disease diet, once rice is gluten-free (FENACELBRA, 2016). Celiac disease is a digestive disease caused by gluten intolerance. Gluten is a protein found in barley, wheat and rye (Los Santos Moreno et al., 2012) Celiac disease leads to membrane damage of the small intestine, interfering on nutrients absorption (Husby et al., 2012, Taminiau, 1996). According to Niewinski (2008), at least one person in 266 suffers from celiac disease in the world.

Rice and its derivatives are source of essential elements. These elements are important because they assure the occurrence of several biochemical processes that play a fundamental role in human homeostasis (Soetan et al., 2010). These essential elements have many functions. Copper (Cu), for example, is present in enzymes and proteins responsible for the reduction-oxidation processes, protecting the body from free radicals (Klaassen, 2008). Zinc (Zn) is connected to the metalloproteinases, that are involved in processes of gene regulation (Tapiero and Tew, 2003).

Since rice-based foods are widely consumed by high-risk groups – children and celiac – the exposure to non-essential elements such as arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) is a global concern (EFSA, 2009a, Munera-Picazo et al., 2014b, OJEU, 2015). For instance, As in adults cause numerous effects: skin cancer, cardiovascular diseases, bladder cancer and diabetes (Klaassen, 2008). Regarding diabetes mellitus, a study showed that celiac disease occurs mainly in patients type 1 (prevalence of 4.4% to 11.1%) compared to the general population (prevalence of 0.5%) (Camarca et al., 2012). So, studies involving As intake and celiac are help for public health strategies.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has discussed the tolerable intake for several food contaminants, including As, Cd and Pb (FAO, 2010). Susceptible specific groups such as children and celiac should be carefully considered. For instance, studies concerning the age which children would be more exposed to As are still scarce. On the other hand, for adults there are several epidemiological studies for As and As-species (EFSA, 2009a, Rahman et al., 2008).

Cereals, such as rice, may accumulate Cd at expressive levels (Klaassen, 2008). According to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Cd daily intake through rice-based food contributes 2.1 and 31.1% for toddlers and other children, respectively (EFSA, 2012b). Lead exposure also occurs mainly through water and food consumption, where grains have a special contribution. Children’s Pb daily intake varies from 0.80 to 5.51 μg kg−1 of body weight (bw). Neurotoxicity is one of the effects observed on 2-3 years old children in matter of Pb-long term exposure, which seriously risks of mental retardation and other development complications may be associated (EFSA, 2010, ENHIS, 2009).

Once essential and non-essential elements are present in food at trace and ultra-trace levels, the determination of such analytes requires accuracy and a high sensitive and multi elemental analytical technique (Llobet et al., 2003, Orecchio et al., 2014). In this sense, the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is a technique widely used to determinate trace elements for food safety issues (Batista et al., 2010, Batista et al., 2011).

As far as we know, there is a lack of studies, especially in Brazil approaching the occurrence of essential and non-essential elements in infant food and food developed for celiac population. Therefore, the present study evaluated the nutritional/toxicological risk of 157 food samples considering rice-based and non-rice based products frequently consumed by infant and celiac. For this purpose we performed: i) total determination of essential (Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, Zn and Se) and non-essential elements (As, Cd and Pb); ii) compare statistically the elements concentration in rice containing food to non-rice based food, aiming to evaluate the influence of rice in essential and non-essential elements content in each food-group; iii) estimated daily intake for As, Cd and Pb and; iv) As-speciation and evaluation of the risk associated to inorganic arsenic (i-As) intake.

Section snippets

Apparatus

High purity deionized water (resistivity 18.2  cm) used was obtained using the Millipore RiOs-DI™ purchased from Milli-Q (Billerica, MA, USA). All reagents used were from analytical grade purchased from Sigma (St. Louis, MO, USA). Solutions were stored in plastic bottles which were cleaned during 24 h in acid bath at 15% v/v HNO3 65% w/w acquired from Synth (São Paulo, SP, Brazil), rinsed five times with ultrapure water and dried in laminar flow hood class 100 (FilterFlux, São Paulo, SP,

Results and discussion

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), has been extensively discussing the adoption of a maximum limit for inorganic arsenic in rice (FAO, 2010).

Several food products include rice (polished or husked) in their constitution, or are exclusively made from this cereal. These products are consumed by the general population, including babies, celiacs and lactose intolerant, that need some restrict diet (Los Santos Moreno et al., 2012).

Concentration of essential elements (Cr,

Conclusions

Food is the primary source of essential elements for humans and an important route of exposure to toxic elements. Non-rice based products had higher concentration of essential elements such as Cr, Co and Cu in comparison to rice based food. On the other hand, in rice-based baby food, essential elements were present at higher concentrations. Furthermore, concentration of non-essential elements such as As, Cd and Pb were higher in rice based products. It could be also observed in rice based baby

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank to Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) and to Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) for financial support and fellowships. The authors also thank to Instituto de Tecnologia de Alimentos do Estado de São Paulo (ITAL) for the support during the analysis.

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