Lead and Cadmium Contaminations in Fruits and Vegetables, and Arsenic in Rice: A cross sectional study on risk assessment in Iran

Background: High levels of heavy metals in food are general concerns including carcinogenic effects. According to studies, the accumulation of heavy metals in crops and consumption of these products in diet, has led to serious health concerns. This study investigated the concentrations of lead and cadmium in popular agricultural products. Methods: In this descriptive study, some fresh agricultural products (leafy vegetables, tubers, cucurbits and seeds) were collected in the winter and summer. The samples were transferred to the laboratory and stored in a cold room. After the preparation of the samples, the lead and cadmium contents were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry. The data were analyzed statistically on SPSS version 26 software. Results: The average concentrations of lead and cadmium in the winter was 37.23±4.7 and 34.77±0.5 while they were 44.12±0.02 and 56.83±0.01μg/g in the summer. The highest amount of led content was reported in spinach at an average of 71.25 μg/g and the lowest content was found in watermelon at 30.67μg/g. We observed a significant rise in the concentrations of the pollutants in leafy vegetables during the summer, which was also linked to the farms’ locations  (P<0.05). Conclusions: The results showed that the highest amount of lead accumulation was found in leafy vegetables and that of the cadmium was at permissible levels  in all produces as recommended by WHO. The risk of non-cancerous diseases was also low. Future studied are warranted to assess the risk of heavy metal toxicity in people, especially in children, the elderly and pregnant women.