Dietary evaluation of toxic elements through integrated diet

Several potentially toxic trace elements, namely, Hg, Pb, Cd, As, Sb, Br and Se have been measured by INAA in combination with AAS techniques in the integrated diet representative of the inhabitants of Gujranwala, a highly industrialized city of Pakistan. The dietary intake values for these elements have been estimated from the prevailing concentration level in the summer and winter season diets, which reveals that present intake data are well within the reported WHO values and can be considered to be safe. Posslble sources of food contamination by the toxic elements and their adverse impacts on human heaith are briefly discussed.