Potential risk for health of rural population related to consumption of local food products containing residual amounts of heavy metals

Purpose: hygienic assessment of the potential health risks of consuming local food products produced in ecologically poor areas and containing residual amounts of heavy metals. Material and Methods. Based on the established concentrations of heavy metals (HM): lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg) and arsenic (As) in local food products of the Saratov region, the potential risk to the health of the rural population associated with their consumption was assessed. The median and 90th percentile of HM content in local foods were used to calculate exposure, hazard coefficient (HQ), total hazard indices (HI), individual carcinogenic risk (CR), and population carcinogenic risk (PCR). Results. Indicators of the HQ values calculated at the level of the median HM content in food products of the regional districts indicated the acceptable level of their impact. In some areas of the region at the concentration of HM at 90 percentile calculated HQ and total HI of contamination of the HM exceeded the value of 1.0, which required in-depth evaluation of the exposure. Bread and dairy products made the greatest contribution to the level of HM contamination in the majority of the studied areas. Conclusion. High level of CR forthe health of the population of some districts of the Saratov region was associated with contamination of food products As calculated at the 90th percentile. The high PCR forthe population of the same regions of the region, associated with contamination of local food products As, was due to a specific level of the carcinogenic potential factor (SFo=1.5), which sharply increased the likelihood of cancer development with oral exposure to this carcinogen.