Element intakes through the consumption of different types of bread by Serbian population

Abstract

The mineral composition of mercantile wheat samples and sunflower seed cultivars collected from all Serbian growing regions was determined by means of atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The mean element contents of wheat and sunflower seed samples (in mg kg-1 on a dry weight basis) were: 8127.5 and 5038.6 for K, 258.6 and 221.7 for Na, 1022.5 and 147.4 for Mg, 1457.2 and 432.3 for Ca, 56.5 and 35.2 for Fe, 33.9 and 15.2 for Mn, 4.1 and 19.5 for Cu, 23.8 and 64.2 for Zn (in μg kg-1 on a dry weight basis), 5.6 and 0.2 for Hg, 28.8 and 574.5 for Cd, 136.9 and 711.1 for Pb, 55.4 and 346.6 for As, respectively. The calculated mean and median levels of elements in the samples were compared with the regulated maximum levels according to the European Commission and the national legislation. On the basis of the obtained data, intakes of macro-, micro- and toxic elements by consuming white, wholegrain and speciality breads with sunflower seeds were calculated and compared to the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) values and Allowed Daily Intakes (ADI) for contaminants. © 2007 Akadémiai Kiadó.