HEALTH RISK RELATED TO URANIUM-238 INTAKE IN MAIZE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55766/sujst-2024-05-e03732Keywords:
Health risk, Lifetime cancer risk, Maize, Radiation dose, Uranium-238Abstract
The regular use of phosphate fertilizer in maize crops may increase 238U, the long-lived radionuclide, in agricultural soils. Maize simply accumulated 238U during growth and development. In this study, 238U concentrations were determined in sweet corn or yellow maize (Zea mays saccharata) and flour corn or white maize (Zea mays amylocea) using radioanalytical technique and alpha spectrometry. Samples were collected from maize fields in Mae Ramat district, Tak province in 2018-2019. Health risk of children, juvenile and adults as consumers related to radiation dose and risk of fatal and illness cancer were evaluated. Concentrations of 238U in all investigated samples were found to be generally low, range from 4.98 to 7.47 Bq.kg-1 ww. in sweet corn and from 6.41 to 10.29 Bq.kg-1 ww. in flour corn which was below the average world value for 238U in all food types of 35 Bq.kg-1. Annual committed effective doses due to 238U intakes as a result of sweet corn and flour corn consumption for children, juveniles, and adults were 13.91 ± 1.47, 78.18 ± 3.48, and 34.05 ± 2.29 µSv.y-1, respectively. These individual doses were below the UNSCEAR recommended limit of 120 µSv.y-1. The lifetime cancer risks varied from 1.05 × 10-5 to 2.18 × 10-5 for fatal cancer and 1.61 × 10-5 to 3.34 × 10-5 for illness cancer. These were relatively low compared with the ICRP recommendation risk of 2.5 × 10-3. Results presented herein suggest no health risk effect to consumers related to the intake of 238U from sweet corn and flour corn.
References
Abojassim, A., Hady, H., and Mohammed, Z. (2016). Natural radioactivity levels in some vegetables and fruits commonly used in Najaf Governorate, Iraq. Journal of Bioenergy and Food Science, 3(3):113-123. https://doi.org/10.18067/jbfs.v3i3.108
Alesso, C.A., Cipriotti, P.A., Bollero, G., and Martin, N.F. (2019). Experimental designs and estimation methods for on-farm research: A simulation study of corn yields at field scale. Agronomy Journal, 111(6):2724-2735. https://doi.org/10.2134/agronj2019.03.0142
Blare, T., Donovan, J., and Garcia-Medina, M. (2020). The right tortilla for the right occasion: Variation in consumers' willingness to pay for blue maize tortillas based on utilization. Journal of Food Products Marketing, 26(6):564-579. https://doi.org/10.1080/10454446.2020.1832637
Central Intelligence Agency. (2020). The CIA World Factbook 2020-2021. Retrieved from: https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/life-expectancy-at-birth/country-comparison/
Cui, Q., Zhang, Z., Beiyuan, J., Cui, Y., Chen, L., Chen, H., and Fang, L. (2023). A critical review of uranium in the soil-plant system: Distribution, bioavailability, toxicity, and bioremediation strategies. Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, 53(3):340-365. https://doi.org/10.1080/10643389.2022.2054246
Erenstein, O., Jaleta, M., Sonder, K., Mottaleb, K.A., and Prasanna, B.M. (2022). Global maize production, consumption and trade: Trends and R&D implications. Food Security, 14:1295-1319. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-022-01288-7
Fantin, V., Righi, S., Rondini, I., and Masoni, P. (2017). Environmental assessment of wheat and maize production in an Italian farmers' cooperative. Journal of Cleaner Production, 140:631-643. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.06.136
Farsiani, A., Ghobadi, M.E., and Jalali Honarmand, S. (2011). The effect of water deficit and sowing date on yield components and seed sugar contents of sweet corn (Zea mays L.). African Journal of Agricultural Research, 6(26):5769-5774. https://doi.org/10.5897/AJAR11.1242
Günther, A., Bernhard, G., Geipel, G., Reich, T.Y., Roßberg, A., and Nitsche, H. (2003). Uranium speciation in plants. Radiochimica Acta, 91(5):319-328. https://doi.org/10.1524/ract.91.6.319.20022
Gwirtz, J.A., and Garcia-Casal, M.N. (2014). Processing maize flour and corn meal food products. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1312(1):66-75. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.12299
International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA]. (1996). International basic safety standards for protection against ionizing radiation and for the safety of radiation sources. Vienna.
International Commission on Radiological Protection [ICRP]. (1996). Age-dependent doses to members of the public from intake of radionuclides: Part 5, Compilation of ingestion and inhalation dose coefficients. ICRP Publication 72.
Islam, A., Begum, A., Yeasmin, S., and Sultana, M.S. (2014). Assessment of dose due to natural radionuclides in vegetables of high background radiation area in south-eastern part of Bangladesh. International Journal of Radiation Research, 12(3):271-275.
Kinnunen, P., Guillaume, J.H.A., Taka, M., D’Odorico, P., Siebert, S., Puma, M.J., Jalava, M., and Kummu, M. (2020). Local food crop production can fulfil demand for less than one-third of the population. Nature Food, 1:229-237. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-020-0060-7
Küçükönder, E., Gümbür, S., Söğüt, Ö., and Doğru, M. (2023). Radioactivity amounts, annual effective dose rate, and lifetime cancer risk estimation of some vegetable and fruit samples cultivated in Kahramanmaraş, Turkey. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 195(4):475. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-11098-9
Land Development Department. (n.d.). Soil and resources survey of Tak Province. http://oss101.ldd.go.th/
National Bureau of Agricultural Commodity and Food Standards [NCFS]. (2016). Food consumption data of Thailand (in Thai).
Nochit, P., Kulsawat, W., and Khunsamut, J. (2021). Concentrations of 238U in selected Thai spices and the related dose assessment. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1719(1):012077. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1719/1/012077
Oktem, A.G., and Oktem, A. (2005). Effect of nitrogen and intra-row spaces on sweet corn (Zea mays saccharata Sturt) ear characteristics. Asian Journal of Plant Science, 4(4):361-364. https://doi.org/10.3923/ajps.2005.361.364
Oluyide, S., Tchokossa, P., Orosun, M., Akinyose, F.C., Louis, H., and Ige, S. (2019). Natural radioactivity and radiological impact assessment of soil, food and water around iron and steel smelting area in Fashina village, Ile-Ife, Osun state, Nigeria. Journal of Applied Science and Environmental Management, 23(1):135-143. https://doi.org/10.4314/jasem.v23i1.20
Report of Thai Meteorological Department. (2020). The Annual Rainfall, Rainy-days and Relative Humidity: Selected Location by Regions for 2018 and 2019. Retrieved from: http://www.climate.tmd.go.th/
Sarić, M.R., Stojanović, M., and Babic, M. (1995). Uranium in plant species grown on natural barren soil. Journal of Plant Nutrition, 18(7):1509-1518. https://doi.org/10.1080/01904169509364999
Sheng, S., Li, T., and Liu, R. (2018). Corn phytochemicals and their health benefits. Food Science and Human Wellness, 7(3):185-195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fshw.2018.09.003
Singh, I., Langyan, S., and Yadava, P. (2014). Sweet corn and corn-based sweeteners. Sugar Tech, 16(2):144-149. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12355-014-0305-6
Supasri, T., Itsubo, N., Gheewala, S.H., and Sampattagul, S. (2020). Life cycle assessment of maize cultivation and biomass utilization in northern Thailand. Scientific Reports, 10:3516. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-60532-2
Swapna, G., Jadesha, G., and Mahadevu, P. (2020). Sweet corn - A future healthy human nutrition food. International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences, 9(7):3859-3865. https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2020.907.452
United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation [UNSCEAR]. (2000). Sources and effects of ionizing radiation. United Nations.
United States Environmental Protection Agency [USEPA]. (1999). Cancer risk coefficients for environmental exposure to radionuclides (EPA. 402 R-99-001). United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Van, T.T., Bat, L.T., Nhan, D.D., Quang, N.H., Cam, B.D., and Hung, L.V. (2019). Estimation of radionuclide concentrations and average annual committed effective dose due to ingestion for the population in the Red river delta, Vietnam. Environmental management, 63(4):444-454. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-018-1007-8
Vu, N.B., Bui, N.T., Huynh, T.P., Vo, H.H., and Truong Thi Hong Loan. (2022). Total annual effective dose and health risk due to intake of natural radionuclides of some vegetables cultivated in suburban Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 331(6):2359-2367. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-022-08290-5
Yang, B., Tuo, F., Zhou, Q., Zhang, J., Li, Z., and Pang, C. (2022). Dietary exposure of radionuclides and heavy metals in adult residents in a high background natural radiation area using duplicate diet method. Scientific reports, 12. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-19979-8
