Dietary intake of heavy metals in Bombay city, India

Concentrations of heavy metals such as Pb, Cd, Cu and Zn have been estimated in air particulates, water and food samples collected from different suburbs in Bombay during 1991–1994. The concentrations of these metals are translated into intake rates through inhalation and ingestion pathways. Results indicate the highest concentration of Pb and Cu are in pulses (green gram), Cd in leafy vegetables (amaranth) and Zn in meat. Root vegetables and fruits contained a lower concentration of these metals. Total intakes of Zn, Cu, Pb and Cd through air, water and food were 10500 μg/day, 1500 μg/day, 30 μg/day and 4.3 μg/day, respectively. Although the major contribution for the daily intake is the ingestion route, eventual uptake in the body stream is contributed through inhalation for Pb (41%) and Cd (16%) and ingestion for Cu (98.8%) and Zn (99.6%). The total intake of these elements through the duplicate diet study is 9500 μg/day for Zn, 1770 μg/day for Cu, 27 μg/day for Pb and 2.5 μg/day for Cd, respectively. The daily intake of these metals by the population of Bombay is well below the recommended dietary values.