Oral daily intake of cadmium, lead, manganese, copper, chromium, mercury, calcium, zinc and arsenic in Belgium: a duplicate meal study

Abstract

One hundred and twenty four daily meals collected in three areas of Belgium were analysed for their content of several metals. The following median values for 24-hr intakes were found: cadmium, 15 micrograms; lead, 95.7 micrograms; manganese, 2.6 mg; copper, 1.3 mg; chromium, 0.24 mg; mercury, 6.5 micrograms; calcium, 541 mg; zinc, 13.2 mg; arsenic, 11.5 micrograms. The distributions of the individual results suggest that about 1-2% of the daily meals sampled had mercury and cadmium contents that exceeded the tolerable level proposed by WHO; in the case of lead this level was exceeded in 10%.