Human health risks of Hg, As, Mn, and Cr through consumption of fish, Ticto barb (Puntius ticto) from a tropical river, Bangladesh

• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-018-3158-9
• Publication Date: 2018-09-12T15:31:45Z
• Authors: Mohammad Belal Ho...; Abu Sayeed Shafiu...; Md. Shafiqul Isla...
• Keywords: Pollution and contamination; Cyprinidae; Environmental Sciences & Ecology; Food Contamination; Risk Assessment; 01 natural sciences; Dietary Exposure; Rivers; Metals, Heavy; Animals; Humans; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences; 2. Zero hunger; Public health; Bangladesh; Science & Technology; Mercury; 3. Good health; Nutrition and dietetics; Heavy metal; Seafood; 13. Climate action; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Environmental Sciences; Water Pollutants, Chemical

Metals tend to accumulate in higher organisms, e.g., fish and human through biomagnification effects in food chain. So, their presence in any component of the environment has become a global ecosystem and health concern. Here, we measured four health concerned metals like As, Cr, Mn, and Hg via inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and analyzed applying some chemometrics for the assessment of human health risk through consumption of Puntius ticto, a very commonly consumed small fish in Bangladesh. The average concentration (wet weight) of metals was in the following descending order: Hg (0.006 mg/kg) > Cr (0.004 mg/kg) > Mn (0.003 mg/kg) > As (0.002 mg/kg). Hg level exceeded the provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI), and all other metals were within the permissible limit. The estimated daily intake (EDI) index of heavy metals showed that all the concentration levels were under the recommended daily intake (RDA) except Hg. Increased level of Hg is of particular concern to human health due to its biomagnification nature and can cause several neurological and physiological disorders including kidney failure. The total target hazard quotients (TTHQs) and carcinogenic risk (CR) matrices revealed that the intakes of Hg and As through fish consumption were higher than the recommended values, indicating consumers' remain non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic (THQ > 1; CR > 10-5) health risks for lifetime consumption. Multivariate analyses (cluster and principal component) explained the sources of heavy metals in the study area originating from both anthropogenic and geological origin.