Presencia de metales traza en la dieta según los alimentos de mayor consumo en la ciudad de Guayaquil

Abstract

Food contaminated by heavy metals poses a significant risk to food safety, with long-term consequences for consumers’ health. Ecuador has gone through several alerts due to the presence of heavy metals in mass consumption foods and, in recent years, several cases of heavy metal poisoning have been reported in the city of Guayaquil. The objective of this study is to analyze the exposure to trace metals in the diet of Guayaquil residents by collecting data about the frequency and amount of food consumption, in order to evaluate the potential health risk of the population in the long term. Food frequency questionnaires were conducted in supermarkets from popular sectors of Guayaquil and, subsequently, the average intake of heavy metals was estimated from the 10 food items of daily consumption, to calculate the Hazard Quotient (HQ). Based on the analysis of results and a literature review, four heavy metals exceeded the permitted consumption limits; however, according to the HQ, Al represents a potential long-term health risk. Keywords: Hazard quotient, contamination, heavy metals, health