Evaluation of the Concentration of Some Toxic Metals in Dietary Red Palm Oil
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Date
2012
Authors
Adepoju-Bello A.A.
Osagiede S.A.
Oguntibeju O.O.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
J Bioanal Biomed
Abstract
Palm oil has been part of human diet for more than 5000 years. For generations, it has been revered as both
a nutritious food and a valuable medicine. However, care should be taken to evaluate the purity and safety of
this nutritional and medicinal agent to the human system. This study investigated the concentration of cadmium,
chromium, mercury, lead, arsenic and nickel in twenty-five samples of ready-to consume palm oil that were
bought randomly from different markets in Lagos, Nigeria. The samples were digested with aqua-regia (2:1:2
HNO3:HClO4:H2SO4 respectively) and the digested samples were analyzed using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy.
There was no detectable mercury in one of the twenty-five samples analysed. However, all the samples contained
a detectable amount of each of the other five metals analysed. The Oral Component Limit (OCL) for cadmium,
chromium, mercury, lead, arsenic and nickel as stated by USP are 0.5μg/g, 25 μg/g, 1.5 μg/g, 1 μg/g, 1.5 μg/g and
25 μg/g respectively. The samples contained detectable amounts of the metals although with values below the
USP standard OCL. The results obtained from this study suggest that the palm oil samples analysed are save for
consumption in terms of the metals of interest analysed.
Description
Scholarly articles
Keywords
Palm oil , Heavy metals , Contamination , Health risk , Research Subject Categories::PHARMACY::Pharmaceutical chemistry
Citation
Adepoju-Bello AA, Osagiede SA and Oguntibeju OO (2012). Evaluation of the Concentration of Some Toxic Metals in Dietary Red Palm Oil. J Bioanal Biomed 2012, 4:5