Concentration of toxic metals and health risks in commercially available packed fruit juice products for children in Gondar city, Northwest Ethiopia, 2022.

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Fruit juice is one of the most popular non-alcoholic beverages on the planet. Nearly 50% of fruit juice product is consumed by children, world-wide with highest intake in Australasia. Children in developing countries consume an average of 0.16 servings/day of fruit juice. Long-term ingestion of high concentration of toxic metals through fruits juice can lead to chronic accumulation and known to have a carcinogen risk in human. Toxic metal in fruit juices may be from ingredients, chemical preservatives, agricultural practices as well as packaging materials. The implications of toxic metals with regards to children's health have been noted to be more severe than adults and limited information is available on the chemical quality of fruit juice products in Ethiopia. To assess potential health risk, more study in the areas of chemical quality is required. The study will serve as a baseline information for constructing health policies for quality control measures. Objective; The aim of this study was to assess the concentration of toxic metals and health risk in commercially available packed fruit juice products for children in Gondar City Northwest Ethiopia, 2022. Methods: A laboratory-based cross-sectional study was conducted from February 30 to July 30 2022 in Gondar City. Purposive sampling techniques were used to select 8 brands of fruit juice. 80 samples were collected from the market based on the availability. Aseptically collected samples were analysed in chemistry laboratory room for toxic metal analysis (Cd, Pb, Ni and Cr). Digestion of the samples was carried out using wet digestion. Analysis of toxic metals was carried out using AAS. Average daily intake of children were estimated using checklist and data were collected from 5 market cites in the city from 422 respondents. The collected data from field survey and laboratory were entered to Microsoft Excel and SPSS Version 25 and Non- parametric Kruskal Wallis and post-hoc pairwise comparison test was used to assess significant variation b/n metals of fruit juice brands. Non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risk of toxic metals were estimated using Target hazard quotient and cancer risk. Results: 80 packed fruit juice samples were examined which contain varying concentration of toxic metals. Concentration of Cd, Cr, Pb and Ni were ranged from 0.01-0.1, 0.0003-0.008, 0.01- 0.04 and 0.0025-0.08 mg/l respectively. The rank of THQ and CR were Cd>Cr>Pb>Ni and Cd and Cd>Ni>Cr>Pb respectively. Conclusion; High concentration of Cd, Pb and Ni were present in Strawberry and pineapple nectar whereas mango juice were in low level. Fruit juices stored in canned cartoon, glass were characterised by an elevated level of Cd, Pb and Ni as compared with products with tetra pack and plastic. THQ>1 in Cd indicates that metals may pose potential health risk for children. Key words; Toxic metal, health risk assessment, fruit juice