Levels of manganese, iron, zinc and mercury in vegetarian foods

Nascimento, A.; Santiago, S.; Lopes, M.; Santos, M.

Publication

Levels of manganese, iron, zinc and mercury in vegetarian foods

2023-09Conference object

dc.contributor.author	Nascimento, A.
dc.contributor.author	Santiago, S.
dc.contributor.author	Lopes, M.
dc.contributor.author	Santos, M.
dc.date.accessioned	2024-01-24T10:24:15Z
dc.date.available	2024-01-24T10:24:15Z
dc.date.issued	2023-09
dc.description	Abstract publicado em: https://icfc2023.com/bookofabstracts/	pt_PT
dc.description.abstract	The increasing popularity of vegetarian diet has induced science to better study this foods. As long as it includes the necessary intake of nutrients, such as minerals, can be beneficial to health. In addition, concern about food safety has increased in recent years, leading to studies to evaluate food contamination by toxic metals, regarding food poisoning prevention and public health improvement. The purpose of this work was to quantify manganese, iron, zinc and mercury contents in different foods for a plant-based diet. Mineral levels were determined by Inductive Plasma Coupled Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). Total mercury content was determined by a thermal decomposition and amalgamation atomic absorption spectrophotometry (TDA/AAS). Manganese level ranged from 0.10 mg/100g (<Limit of Quantification (LoQ)) in mushrooms, vegetable drinks and margarines to 22.6 mg/100g in seaweed Nori. Content of iron ranged from 0.22 mg/100g (<LoQ) in bamboo shoots mushrooms, brown mushrooms vegetable drinks, rice vegetable drink and margarines to 25.8 mg/100g in seaweed Nori. Level of zinc ranged from 0.22 mg/100g (<LoQ) in shoots, vegetable drinks and vegetable yogurt to 2.98 mg/100g in seaweed Nori. Regarding mercury content, all samples presented levels below LoQ (1.1 µg/kg), with exception of pleurotus mushrooms, that presented a low but quantified value (8.9 µg/kg). It was found that, in general, the analyzed foods presented mineral values below the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) per 100 g of food, with exception of seaweed Nori, that exceed the RDA of manganese and iron, and chickpea that surpasses the RDA of manganese. This study provides support for future studies regarding mineral content in vegetarian foods and supply the Portuguese Food Composition Table. As expected, vegetarian food samples presented low levels of studied minerals, with the exception of grain and seaweed. Since mercury is a contaminant, pleurotus mushrooms may require attention to its presence, despite there is no legislation for mercury levels in mushrooms. It is concluded, therefore, that the vegetarian dietary pattern must be well planned, taking into account the importance of a varied, balanced and complete diet, including adequate food choices, in order to supply the deficit and reduce exposure to toxic substances.	pt_PT
dc.description.version	N/A	pt_PT
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10400.18/8957
dc.language.iso	eng	pt_PT
dc.peerreviewed	yes	pt_PT
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/	pt_PT
dc.subject	Vegetarian Foods	pt_PT
dc.subject	Manganese	pt_PT
dc.subject	Iron	pt_PT
dc.subject	Zinc	pt_PT
dc.subject	Mercury	pt_PT
dc.subject	Segurança Alimentar	pt_PT
dc.title	Levels of manganese, iron, zinc and mercury in vegetarian foods	pt_PT
dc.type	conference object
dspace.entity.type	Publication
oaire.citation.conferencePlace	Campinas, Brasil	pt_PT
oaire.citation.title	International Conference on Food Contaminants (ICFC): Challenges in exposure assessment, health impact and sustainability of food systems, 4-6 September 2023	pt_PT
rcaap.rights	openAccess	pt_PT
rcaap.type	conferenceObject	pt_PT