Consumption of arsenic and other elements from vegetables and drinking water from an arsenic-contaminated area of Bangladesh

The study assesses the daily consumption by adults of arsenic (As) and other elements in drinking water and home-grown vegetables in a severely As-contaminated area of Bangladesh. Most of the examined elements in drinking water were below the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline values except As. The median concentrations of As, cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), Mn, nickel (Ni), and zinc (Zn) in vegetables were 90μgkg^-1, 111μgkg^-1, 0.80mgkg^-1, 168μgkg^-1, 13mgkg^-1, 2.1mgkg^-1, 65mgkg^-1, 1.7mgkg^-1, and 50mgkg^-1, respectively. Daily intakes of As, Cd, Cr, Co, Cu, Pb, manganese (Mn), Ni, and Zn from vegetables and drinking water for adults were 839μg, 2.9μg, 20.8μg, 5.5μg, 0.35mg, 56.4μg, 2.0mg, 49.1μg, and 1.3mg, respectively. The health risks from consuming vegetables were estimated by comparing these figures with the WHO/FAO provisional tolerable weekly or daily intake (PTWI or PTDI). Vegetables alone contribute 0.05μg of As and 0.008mg of Cu per kg of body weight (bw) daily; 0.42μg of Cd, 8.77mg of Pb, and 0.03mg of Zn per kg bw weekly. Other food sources and particularly dietary staple rice need to be evaluated to determine the exact health risks from such foods.