Elemental (As, Zn, Fe and Cu) analysis and health risk assessment of rice grains and rice based food products collected from markets from different cities of Gangetic basin, India

The present study measured arsenic (As), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe) concentrations in grains of different rice varieties and rice based food products collected from various cities located in Gangetic basin in India. Total 44 rice samples were collected from local markets from different locations and analyzed for elemental concentrations by Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy. The results showed that the mean concentration of As, Zn, Cu and Fe were 0.15 +/- 0.10, 117 +/- 24, 4.6 +/- 0.5 and 32.5 +/- 5.7 mu g g(-1) dw, respectively in rice grains and 0.17 +/- 0.09, 193 +/- 241, 4.5 +/- 1.0 and 45.7 +/- 25 mu g g(-1) dw, respectively in rice based food products. The hazard quotient (HQ) of As was the lowest in Patna (2.4) and the highest in Kolkata (5.0) but it was always higher than threshold value of one. The carcinogenic risk of the As for rice grains was found to be higher (10(-3)) than safe range of 10(-6)-10(-4) set by USEPA except Jabalpur. Daily consumption analyses also indicated that consumption of rice and rice products was not sufficient to fulfill daily requirement of Fe in most of the cities. The present results implicate that the consumption of rice and rice products may act as source of As on one hand and may not provide sufficient essential elements on the other.