Abstract
Trace elements in cereals and cereal products which are an important food in the human diet. The present investigation was carried out to determine concentration of trace elements and evaluate the potential health risk of metal to humans through consumption of cereal. Concentrations of ten trace elements (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Se and Zn) were then used to calculate the health risk for Libyan population. Their concentrations were 0.056 of Cd to 31.55 mg/kg of Mn for cereals. ICP-MS technique was used to measure these elements in cereals after microwave digestion. The THQ values for individual elements from consumption of cereals were below than 1 except Mn (THQ of Mn = 1.66). The total daily intakes (EDI wheat+rice+barley) of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Se and Zn were 0.0198, 0.0076, 0.0925, 2.20, 15.80, 0.26, 0.187, 0.0342, 0.345 and 10.02 mg/day, respectively. Cu, Mn and Zn showed the highest contribution of daily intakes of elements in the current study. Furthermore, the estimation in the present study showed that the carcinogenic risk of arsenic and lead slightly exceeded the accepted risk level of 1×10−6 . More study should be done for estimating daily intakes of Cu and Mn in Libyan population for different type of foods.