Dietary exposure to aluminium of urban residents from cities in South China

• Published in: Food additives & contaminants. Part A, Chemistry, analysis, control, exposure & risk assessment Vol. 30; no. 4; pp. 698 - 704
• Main Authors: Jiang, Qi, Wang, Jing, Li, Min, Liang, Xuxia, Dai, Guangwei, Hu, Zhikun, Wen, Jian, Huang, Qiong, Zhang, Yonghui
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Taylor & Francis 01.04.2013; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: aluminium; aluminium-containing food additives; Aluminum; Aluminum - analysis; Aluminum - toxicity; Biological and medical sciences; body weight; China; cities; Diet; diet recall; dietary exposure; dietary surveys; Environmental Exposure; Food additives; Food contamination & poisoning; food groups; Food industries; food safety; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; Humans; Hygiene and safety; Mass Spectrometry; processed foods; risk; risk assessment; river deltas; rivers; Urban areas; Urban Population; Vegetables; Wheat; Asia; China; China, People's Rep., Zhu R; China, People's Rep; risk assessment; dietary exposure; South; Risk; Aluminium; Food safety; Food additive; aluminium-containing food additives
• ISSN: 1944-0057; 1944-0049; 1944-0057
• DOI: 10.1080/19440049.2013.777801

A dietary survey was conducted over three consecutive days by using 24-hour dietary recall in the Pearl River Delta of South China to investigate the dietary consumption status. A total of 1702 food samples, 22 food groups, were collected, and aluminium concentrations of foods were determined by using ICP-MS. Weekly dietary exposure to aluminium of the average urban residents of South China was estimated to be 1.5 mg kg⁻¹ body weight, which amounted to 76% of the provisional tolerable weekly intake. Wheat-made products (53.5%) contributed most to the dietary exposure, followed by vegetables (12.2%). The high-level consumers’ weekly exposure to aluminium was 11.1 mg kg⁻¹ body weight, which amounted to 407% of the provisional tolerable weekly intake. The results indicated that the general urban residents in South China might be safe from aluminium exposure, but the high-level consumers might be at some risk of aluminium exposure. The foods contributing to aluminium exposure were processed food with aluminium-containing food additives. It is necessary to take effective measures to control the overuse of aluminium-containing food additives.