Human Health and Heavy Metal Exposure

Metal ions such as iron and copper are among the key nutrients that must be provided by dietary sources. In developing countries, there is an enormous contribution of human activities to the release of toxic chemicals, metals and metalloids into the atmosphere. These toxic metals are accumulated in the dietary articles of man. Numerous foodstuffs have been evaluated for their contributions to the recommended daily allowance both to guide for satisfactory intake and also to prevent over exposure. Further, food chain polluted with toxic metals and metalloids is an important route of human exposure and may cause several dangerous effects on human. In this review we summarized effects of toxic metals, especially Cd, Pb, As, Hg, Se and Li, on human health.