Daily dietary intake of selected essential and toxic mineral elements from commonly consumed foods in Dar es Salaam.

The human dietary intake of essential mineral elements (calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, nickel and zinc) and potentially toxic mineral elements (Cadmium, and lead) from commonly consumed foods i n Dar es Salaam was assessed. The foods were bought from restaurants and street food-vendors from Temeke, Ubungo, Mwenge, Buguruni and Manzese, in Dar es Salaam city. The Total Diet Study method was used to estimate the daily dietary intake. Chemical analysis of these mineral elements was done by using Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry after wet digestion of the edible portions of pooled samples of the selected foodstuffs. The results obtained were compared to the FAO/WHO recommendations for a healthy and safe daily and/or weekly intake of minerals i.e. Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI), Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake (PTWI), Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) and/or Estimated Safe and Adequate Daily Dietary Intake (ESADDI). It was observed that different foodstuffs contained different concentrations of the studied mineral elements. The variation of intake values for the same foodstuff among the locations indicated contamination during food handling. Weekly average dietary intake of cadmium ranged from 1.45 and 3.39 µglkg-b.w./week (i.e. 20.7 - 48.37% of PTWI) with consumers from Mwenge area having the highest average intake. The average dietary intake of lead ranged from 23.0 and 45.0 µg/kg - b.w./week, with consumers at Ubungo, Temeke and Mwenge having higher intake exceeding the PTWI. Daily intake of zinc and copper were below the ADI for these elements while that of iron ranged from 0.59 and 0.86 mg/kg - b.w./day, with the consumers from street - food vendor at Ubungo having the highest average intake exceeding the ADI. The human dietary intake of essential mineral elements (calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, nickel and zinc) and potentially toxic mineral elements (Cadmium, and lead) from commonly consumed foods i n Dar es Salaam was assessed. The foods were bought from restaurants and street food-vendors from Temeke, Ubungo, Mwenge, Buguruni and Manzese, in Dar es Salaam city. The Total Diet Study method was used to estimate the daily dietary intake. Chemical analysis of these mineral elements was done by using Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry after wet digestion of the edible portions of pooled samples of the selected foodstuffs. The results obtained were compared to the FAO/WHO recommendations for a healthy and safe daily and/or weekly intake of minerals i.e. Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI), Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake (PTWI), Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) . the results of the study indicate that the dietary intake of essential mineral elements at the studied locations was adequate. However, dietary intake of lead was unsafe as it exceeded the PTWI in most locations.