Carcinogenic and Non-Carcinogenic Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals Consumption Through Spices on Human Health in Karachi, Pakistan

Abstract

Spices are used in daily cooking, it is crucial that people monitor their contents in order to preserve their health. This study compared local open markets in Karachi to supermarket-packaged spices and investigated the prevalence of heavy metal contamination in commonly used spices. We gathered five open markets spice samples and compared them with the similar kinds of packages. Atomic absorption spectrometry was used to measure the levels of heavy metals and the hazard index (HI) was used to evaluate potential health risks, which is based on non-carcinogenic effects. Two-way ANOVA was then used to analyze the data. The results showed that all the spice samples contained trace amounts of heavy metals. The total hazard quotient (THQ) and hazard index (HI) of these metals was however lower than the safety threshold (both less than 1), indicating that there was no threat of much hazard due to normal consumption. Nickel (Ni), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb) and copper (Cu) in spices such as cinnamon, dried ginger and fenugreek were also significantly positively correlated. Notably, the values of estimated cancer risk were within acceptable limits. All this indicates that the ingestion of these spices either as loose or packaged spice will not be a health hazard within the region under investigation.