Abstract:
There are signiicant concerns about the risks to human health posed by metal(loid) contamination in dietary ishes in Bangladesh.
Therefore,
this
study
aimed to
evaluate
heavy
metal(loid)
contamination
in ish and their
associated health
risks
using
published
data
from
2000 to
2022. Additionally,
the
safe
limit of ish consumption
was
estimated
using the
target
hazard
quotient
(THQ)
followed
by
computational
modelling
and
artiicial
neural
networks
(ANN).
Results
showed
that
freshwater
and
herbivorous
ishes pose the
least
non-cancer risks,
whereas
saltwater
and carnivorous
ishes pose the
highest
non-cancer
risks
to
Bangladeshi
consumers. However,
freshwater
and omnivorous
ish consumption
pose the
highest
cancer risks
compared
to
all studied
metal(loid)s.
In particular,
among the
heavy
metal(loid)s,
As, Cr,
Hg, and Ni pose signiicant cancer and
non-cancer
risks
to
Bangladeshi
consumers. On the
contrary,
the
ANN and Decision tree
regression
(DTR)
characterized
the
dataset,
simulation
model,
or
data
testing
condition,
reaching
94.7%
accuracy
and
allowing
us
to
measure
the
safest
ish
consumption
limit. The herbivorous
ishes are
less contaminated
and allow
greater
consumption
(175.09 g
day
). Contrarily,
the allowable intake rates of carnivorous and omnivorous ishes are 153.05 and 168.63 g day
−1
, respectively. Besides, the safe
consumption rate of saltwater ishes was 156.51 g day
−1
, which was lower than freshwater (180.59 g day
) and euryhaline
ishes (182.17 g day
−1
). Therefore, this study will assist ish consumers in selecting less contaminated ish, ensuring safe
consumption levels, and ultimately reducing health risks associated with metal(loid) contamination in ish.
