Toxic Metals and Metalloids in Hassawi Brown Rice: Fate during Cooking and Associated Health Risks

Abdulaziz Abdulrahman AlMulla (), Saad Dahlawi, Muhammad Atif Randhawa, Qamar uz Zaman, Yinglong Chen and Turki Kh. Faraj
Additional contact information
Abdulaziz Abdulrahman AlMulla: Department of Environmental Health, College of Public Health, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU), P.O. Box 1982, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia
Saad Dahlawi: Department of Environmental Health, College of Public Health, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU), P.O. Box 1982, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia
Muhammad Atif Randhawa: Department of Environmental Health, College of Public Health, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU), P.O. Box 1982, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia
Qamar uz Zaman: Department of Environmental Sciences, The University of Lahore, Punjab 54590, Pakistan
Yinglong Chen: The UWA Institute of Agriculture, and School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia
Turki Kh. Faraj: Department of Soil Science, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 145111, Riyadh 11362, Saudi Arabia

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 19, 1-12

Abstract: Rice has been a dietary staple for centuries, providing vital nutrients to the human body. Brown rice is well known for its nutrient-dense food profile. However, owing to multiple causes (anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic), it can also be a potential source of toxic heavy metals in the diet. Brown Hassawi rice samples were collected from the Al-Ahsa region and analyzed for its content of toxic metals. The results reveal that all the tested metals varied significantly in the brown rice samples, while As and Pb in all three samples exceeded their respective maximum allowable limits (MALs), followed by Cd, which nearly approached the MAL in two samples out of three. Brown rice samples were cooked in rice:water systems, viz., low rice:water ratios (1:2.5, 1:3.5) and high rice:water ratios (1:5, 1:6), along with soaking as a pre-treatment. Soaking was unproductive in removing the heavy metals from the rice, whereas cooking dissipated all metals from the rice, except for Cd, which was statistically non-significant. The high-water cooking of the rice was more effective in the dissipation of metals from the rice as compared to low-water cooking conditions. Through the consumption of rice, the estimated daily intake (EDI) of heavy metals is 162 g per person per day for As, which is above the provisional maximum tolerable daily intake (PMTDI) regardless of cooking circumstances. The hazard risk index (HRI) also highlighted the fact that As can be a potential health hazard to rice consumers in the Al-Ahsa region of Saudi Arabia. These results indicate the potential health risks caused by the consumption of this rice by humans. Regular monitoring is recommended to manage and control elevated concentrations and related health hazards as a result of the use of Hassawi rice contaminated by the accumulation of metals and metalloids.

Keywords: brown rice; heavy metals; environmental pollutants; daily intake; health risk (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/19/12125/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/19/12125/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:19:p:12125-:d:924649

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().