Heavy Metal Concentrations in Malaysian Adults' Hair and Associated Variables in Bukit Mertajam, Penang, Malaysia

Aziz MY 1 , Hussain SH 2 , Ishak AR 3 , Abdullah MA 4 , Mohamed R 5 , Ruzi II 6 Show all authors , Yahaya N 6 , Samad NA 6 , Edinur HA 7

Affiliations 

  • 1 Integrative Medicine Cluster, Advanced Medical and Dental Institute, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Bertam, 13200, Kepala Batas, Penang, Malaysia. [email protected]
  • 2 School of Distance Education, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Georgetown, Malaysia
  • 3 Center of Environmental Health & Safety, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 42300, Puncak Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 4 Integrative Pharmacogenomics Institute (iPROMISE), Universiti Teknologi MARA, 42300, Puncak Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 5 Regenerative Medicine Cluster, Advanced Medical and Dental Institute, Universit Sains Malaysia, Bertam, 13200, Kepala Batas, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
  • 6 Integrative Medicine Cluster, Advanced Medical and Dental Institute, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Bertam, 13200, Kepala Batas, Penang, Malaysia
  • 7 Forensic Science Programme, School of Health Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Health Campus, 16150, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia
Biol Trace Elem Res, 2021 Sep 30.
PMID: 34591221 DOI: 10.1007/s12011-021-02942-5

Abstract

The presence of heavy metals in human hair is being tracked to predict health risk, forensics, and environmental monitoring. Heavy metals are typically non-biodegradable and have a lengthy half-life, allowing them to linger in humans and the environment for many years. Heavy metal exposure in hair has been attributed to multiple sources from the environment and food intake. In this study, copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn), chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn), lead (Pb), and cadmium (Cd) levels were measured in the scalp hair of 50 individuals in Bukit Mertajam, Penang, Malaysia. In conjunction with sampling, subjects' age, gender, lifestyle, diet, and working environment were also obtained through the questionnaire. The Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS) method was used to extract all the metals in the hair samples. The mean concentrations of heavy metals were found to be in the following order (unit of mg/kg): Cr > Zn > Pb > Ni > Cd > Cu. Manganese was detected below the limit of quantitation among the elements (

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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