Dietary exposure and health risk assessment for 14 toxic and essential trace elements in Yaoundé: the Cameroonian total diet study

Dietary exposure to trace elements (aluminium, antimony, barium, cadmium, lead, nickel, vanadium, copper, manganese, molybdenum, germanium, lithium, strontium and tellurium) was assessed by the total diet study (TDS) method. Sixty-four pooled samples representing 96.5% of the diet in Yaounde, Cameroon, were prepared “as consumed” before analysis. Consumption data were sourced from a households’ budget survey. Dietary exposures were compared with health-based guidance or nutritional values and to worldwide TDS results. The health-based guidance value was exceeded by ≤ 0.2% of the study population for aluminium, antimony, barium, cadmium, nickel and vanadium. For lead, the observed 95th percentile of exposure (3.05 µg kg−1 body weight day−1) equals the critical value considered by JECFA for cardiovascular effects; therefore, risk to health cannot be excluded for certain consumer groups. The population at risk of excess intake for manganese, copper, molybdenum and nickel was considered to be low (≤ 0.3%). Th...