Bioaccessibility and bioavailability evaluation of heavy metal(loid)s in ginger in vitro: Relevance to human health risk assessment

Ginger is a common spice in everyday diet. However, over time, it may absorb and accumulate heavy metal(loid)s (HMs) from the soil, posing a potential health risk to humans. In this study, we evaluated the pollution level, bioavailability, mobility evaluation, and health risk of Cr, Pb, Cd, and As in the soil–ginger system of five major ginger-producing cities in Shandong Province, China. Research indicated the concentrations of the Cr, Pb, Cd, and As in the soil were close to or even higher than background value, except Weifang. With the concentrations of Cr, Pb, Cd, and As in ginger being 0.08–0.47, 0.03–0.16, 0.002–0.03, and 0.006–0.028 mg/kg, the four HMs concentrations were within the limits of 0.1–0.5 mg/kg based on the Chinese health standard (GB2762–2017) of HMs in food. The bioavailability of HMs in soils was evaluated using diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) and nitric acid (HNO3) extraction and the results showed that Pb and Cd have high bioavailability. Mobility evaluation of HMs from soil to ginger based on Pearson's correlation and the partial least squares–path method (PLS-PM) model showed that the soil's physicochemical properties influence the HMs migration process (especially Cd and Pb) in the soil–ginger system, and the PLS-PM model has good adaptability to Cd and Pb (gof > 0.5). The mean total carcinogenic risk (TCR) of bioaccessible gastric and intestinal HMs were 4.64 × 10−6 and 3.13 × 10−6, which were much lower than that of total HMs (2.60 × 10−5), indicating that existing models based on total HMs may overestimate the health risk of HMs. The bioaccessible concentrations should be considered to improve the accuracy of assessment results.