Evaluation of the micro nutrients daily ingestion and mercury on pre-elementary school children from some communities of the state of Amazonas, Brazil

This study evaluates the daily dietetic ingestion of Hg and some nutrients of pre-scholar children from eight communities of Amazonas state, Brazil. Some children from each community were selected and their diets (24 hours total consumption) were collected by the duplicate quantity method and a pool of diets composed for each of these communities. The diet samples were analysed for the Hg total content by a CV AAS linear accelerator and neutron activation analysis for determination of Ca, Fe, K, Se and Zn micro nutrients. Both analytical methodologies precision and accuracy were validated using the certified reference materials analysis. The provisional tolerable weekly ingestion (PTWI) for Hg and the daily micro nutrient ingestion were calculated for each group, considering an 10 kg average weight for each child. The obtained results for all diets were shown the inadequacy prevail for the evaluated micro nutrients, and some communities exceeded the limit of 5 μg Hg/kg of body weight (PTWI). Those results suggested that the nutritional education program must be implemented at those communities, aiming the better utilization of the local food natural resources. (author)