The concentration of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in honey: Global systematic review and meta-analysis and risk assessment

ABSTRACT

The papers were searched in databases including PubMed, Scopus, Web of science, Embase, Science Direct until 21 September 2023 and meta-analysis of concentration of PTEs in honey was performed using random effects model based on country subgroups. The non-carcinogenic risk and carcinogenic risk were calculated by Target Hazard Quotient (THQ) and Cancer Risk (CR), respectively. The sort of PTEs in honey based on pooled concentration was Cu (1.10E + 02 µg/kg) > Ni (1.80E + 01 µg/kg) > Pb (2.60E + 00 µg/kg) > Hg (1.50E + 00 µg/kg) > Cd (5.10E–01 µg/kg) > As (4.80E–01 µg/kg). The concentration of PTEs in the countries of Ethiopia (As), Jordan (Cd and Pb), Thailand (Ni), Brazil (Cu and MeHg) was observed to be higher than other countries. The non-carcinogenic risk was less than 1, hence, the consumption of honey does not have non-carcinogenic risk. Except children in Nigeria, CR due to iAs in honey was acceptable for the both adults and children in the other countries, Therefore, the consumption of honey does not have carcinogenic risk.

KEYWORDS:

• Heavy metals
• honey
• potentially toxic elements
• meta-analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/09603123.2024.2341425.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.