Condición socioeconómica, patrones de alimentación y exposición a metales pesados en mujeres en edad fértil de Cali, Colombia

Introduction: Global increase in food and water pollution is associated with health risk, mainly to ingestion of pollutants. These risks are related to concentration, dose and exposure time. Concerns about possible long-term effects of heavy metals chronic exposure to low concentrations such as lead, cadmium and mercury. Objective: Explore the relationship between socioeconomic status, food patterns and exposure to heavy metals. Materials and methods: A total of 233 childbearing age, no pregnant women were enrolled. Sociodemographic, housing conditions, exposure to heavy metals, frequency of food consumption information and anthropometric measurements were gathered; to identify lead, cadmium and mercury concentrations, samples of lettuce, cabbage and fish were collected. Descriptive and multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) were performed to establish patterns of consumption. Results: Fish was present at all three meals daily, especially lunch; cadmium was found below the acceptable levels in three samples of manteco fish. Consumers more than 1 time in the week, 11.1% acquired it in a positive retail store for cadmium. MCA determined relationship black ethnicity between manteco/tilapia consumption more than once per week. Conclusions: Population has access to food contaminated with heavy metals which, added to a cultural pattern of consumption, socioeconomic status and metabolic characteristics of women, produce a greater exposure and vulnerability to the effects.