Assessment of Exposure to Toxic Metals in Relation to Different Diet Patterns - the DietBiom CALC-M Study: Dietary Biomonitoring of Cadmium, Arsenic, Lead, Chromium, and Mercury

Different dietary intake may pose various health risks as as these have different potential exposure to heavy metals, which may originate from soils, irrigation systems, infrastructure, packaging, and other environmental exposures to toxic metals such as livestock nutritional intake. In this study, we aim to quantify toxic metals such as cadmium, lead, chromium, arsenic, and mercury, as well as macro and micronutrient contents in humans that are under three different diets (vegetarian-vegan, omnivorous, and low-carbohydrate diets). Short- and long-term nutritional intake will be obtained using food diaries and validated food frequency questionnaire, respectively. Analysis of essential nutrients as well as toxic metals will be assessed from nutritional software and database. Samples of blood (whole blood and serum) and urine as well as sub-samples of several common food items from 250 healthy volunteers will be collected and analyzed using standardized chemical protocol and quantified by an ICP-MS. Through the chemical results we intend to correlate dietary patterns with heavy metal exposure and identify diet-related exposure risks. These correlations will help in informing professionals and the public and will improve public health recommendations. This initiative stands out in its focus on a comprehensive dietary assessment to understand the impact of different dietary choices on metal exposure levels, particularly in the Israeli context.