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Orosun MM, Nwabachili S, Alshehri RF, Omeje M, Alshdoukhi IF, Okoro HK, Ogunkunle CO, Louis H, Abdulhamid FA, Osahon SE, Mohammed AU, Ehinlafa EO, Yunus SO, Ife-Adediran O. Potentially toxic metals in irrigation water, soil, and vegetables and their health risks using Monte Carlo models. Sci Rep 2023; 13:21220. [PMID: 38040785 PMCID: PMC10692326 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-48489-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2023] [Accepted: 11/27/2023] [Indexed: 12/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Food safety has become a serious global concern because of the accumulation of potentially toxic metals (PTMs) in crops cultivated on contaminated agricultural soils. Amongst these toxic elements, arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), and lead (Pb) receive worldwide attention because of their ability to cause deleterious health effects. Thus, an assessment of these toxic metals in the soils, irrigation waters, and the most widely consumed vegetables in Nigeria; Spinach (Amaranthushybridus), and Cabbage (Brassica oleracea) was evaluated using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). The mean concentration (measured in mg kg-1) of the PTMs in the soils was in the sequence Cr (81.77) > Pb(19.91) > As(13.23) > Cd(3.25), exceeding the WHO recommended values in all cases. This contamination was corroborated by the pollution evaluation indices. The concentrations (measured in mg l-1) of the PTMs in the irrigation water followed a similar pattern i.e. Cr(1.87) > Pb(1.65) > As(0.85) > Cd(0.20). All the PTMs being studied, were found in the vegetables with Cr (5.37 and 5.88) having the highest concentration, followed by Pb (3.57 and 4.33), and As (1.09 and 1.67), while Cd (0.48 and 1.04) had the lowest concentration (all measured in mg kg-1) for cabbage and spinach, respectively. The concentration of the toxic metals was higher in spinach than in cabbage, which may be due to the redistribution of the greater proportion of the metals above the ground tissue, caused by the bioavailability of metals in the aqueous phase. Expectedly, the hazard index (HI),and carcinogenic risk values of spinach were higher than that of cabbage. This implies that spinach poses potentially higher health risks. Similarly, the Monte Carlo simulation results reveal that the 5th percentile, 95th percentile, and 50th percentile of the cumulative probability of cancer risks due to the consumption of these vegetables exceeds the acceptable range of 1.00E-6 and 1.00E-4. Thus, the probable risk of a cancerous effect is high, and necessary remedial actions are recommended.
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Affiliation(s)
- Muyiwa Michael Orosun
- Radiation, Health, and Environmental Physics Group, Physics Department, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria.
- Department of Physics, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria.
| | | | - Reem F Alshehri
- Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Taibah University, Medina, Saudi Arabia
| | - Maxwell Omeje
- Department of Physics, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria
| | - Ibtehaj F Alshdoukhi
- Department of Basic Sciences, College of Science and Health Professions, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Science, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
| | - Hussein K Okoro
- Department of Industrial Chemistry, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria
| | | | - Hitler Louis
- Department of Chemistry, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria
- Department of Research Analytics, Saveetha Dental College and Hospitals, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Saveetha University, Chennai, India
| | | | | | - Adamu Usman Mohammed
- Department of Applied Geology, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Nigeria
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