Heavy metals in honey consumed in Southwest, Nigeria and its human health risk

Honey is an agricultural product known for its nutritional and various medicinal values. There is a global concern about the challenges posed to human health by the toxicity of heavy metals from consumer goods, including agricultural products. Levels of heavy metals (lead, cadmium, copper, iron, zinc, and nickel) in some selected honey samples that were randomly collected from the Southwest geopolitical zone of Nigeria were assessed using Atomic Absorption spectroscopy. The concentrations (mg/kg) of lead, cadmium, copper, iron, zinc, and nickel ranged from 0.31±0.2 to 0.94±0.4 Pb, not detectable to 0.16±0.03 Cd, 0.42±0.1 to 6.00±9.6 Cu, 0.75±0.0 to 7.91±4.8 Fe, 1.64±0.1 to 2.64±0.5 Zn, and not detectable to 0.91±0.5 Ni, respectively. The estimated daily intake of metals and the health risk index were calculated to assess human health risk. The health risk assessment showed that there was no potential risk in the consumption of honey from this region. Evaluation of green analytical methods using analytical eco-scale approach ranked the results as “excellent green analysis''. Across the region under consideration, the general characteristics of the honey studied ranged as follows: ash content (g/100g): 0.17-0.67, pH: 5.27-5.45, acidity (g/100g): 0.12-0.56, electrical conductivity (mS/cm): 4.91-14.9, refractive index: 1.48-1.48, moisture (g/100 g): 21.8-23.1, and total solid content (g/100 g): 98.0-98.9.The results indicated that honey consumed in the southwest states contain heavy metals at satisfactory levels and the general characteristics were also within the tolerable limits. However, there is a need for regular assessment of agricultural products to safeguard human health