DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2016.v04i01.049

Pages: 273-277

World health organization has announced almost 48% of the worldwide population issuffering from anemia in its report 2008.There is a relatively high incidence of anemia in the Saudi society, despite the high prevalence for obesity in the Saudi population 63.6%. The Kingdome of Saudi Arabia imports fruits and vegetables among different types of food stuff from all over the world. In this study, we have addressed the question of what are the levels of metals in fruits and vegetables imported to the Saudi market in Hail province and is there a correlation between the incidence of anemia and metals levels in fruits and vegetables sold in the local market of Hail. 240 Samples of fruits and vegetables were collected from 10 markets in the city of Hail, KSA and analyzed for copper, magnesium and iron using Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES).Copper levels ranged between 1.2 µg/g and 4.1 µg/g, whereas, magnesium levels ranged between 1 µg/g and 9 µg/gand iron levels ranged between 0.5 µg/g and 4.1µg/g. There was an exponential decrease of 25% in the levels of Iron and magnesium of this study compared to the Australian guidelines, whereas, there was an increase of 20% in the levels of copper. As a consequence of these results, iron and magnesium did not meet the Provisional Tolerance Weekly Intake (PTWI) recommended by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO/WHO). In conclusion, we propose another cause for anemia prevalence in Hail province, as well as, we highly recommend having a nutritional monitoring on the food and vegetables imported to Saudi Arabia beside to the physical and chemical inspection for fruits and vegetables.