Muhollari Teuta, Szűcs Sándor, Sajtos Zsófi, McKee Martin, Baranyai Edina, Ádány Róza, Pál László
Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary.
Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, Atomic Spectroscopy Laboratory, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary.
Heliyon. 2023 Feb 15;9(3):e13717. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e13717. eCollection 2023 Mar.
Unrecorded alcohol has been linked to illness above and beyond that caused by ethanol alone because of the presence of toxic contaminants. While it can be found in all countries, consumption is high in Albania, where it is frequently consumed as a fruit brandy known as rakia. Among the contaminants identified previously in such products, metals including lead have been detected at levels posing a risk to health but there is little information on their presence in rakia. To fill this gap, we measured the level of ethanol and 24 elements among them toxic metals in 30 Albanian rakia samples. We found that 63.3% of rakia samples had ethanol concentration above 40% v/v. We also showed that there was a significant difference between the measured [mean: 46.7% v/v, interquartile range (IQR): 43.4-52.1% v/v] and reported (mean: 18.9% v/v, IQR: 17.0-20.0% v/v) concentrations of ethanol in rakia. Among the metals detected, aluminium, copper, iron, manganese, lead, and zinc were present in rakia samples at concentrations ranging between 0.013 and 0.866 mg/l of pure alcohol (pa), 0.025-31.629 mg/l of pa, 0.004-1.173 mg/l of pa, 0.185-45.244 mg/l of pa, 0.044-1.337 mg/l of pa, and 0.004-10.156 mg/l of pa, respectively. Copper and lead were found to be the greatest concern posing a potential public health risk. Although the estimated daily intake of these heavy metals from unrecorded rakia was below their toxicological threshold, the concentrations of lead and copper exceeded their limit value of 0.2 and 2.0 mg/l of pa specified for spirits in 33% and 90% of samples, respectively. Therefore, the possibility of adverse health effects cannot be excluded completely. Our findings highlight the need for action by policymakers against the risks posed by these products in Albania.
由于存在有毒污染物，未记录在案的酒精与仅由乙醇导致的疾病之外的其他疾病有关。虽然在所有国家都能发现它，但在阿尔巴尼亚的消费量很高，在那里它经常作为一种名为拉基亚的水果白兰地被饮用。在之前在此类产品中鉴定出的污染物中，包括铅在内的金属已被检测出其含量对健康构成风险，但关于它们在拉基亚中的存在情况的信息很少。为了填补这一空白，我们测量了30个阿尔巴尼亚拉基亚样品中的乙醇含量以及其中24种元素（包括有毒金属）的含量。我们发现63.3%的拉基亚样品的乙醇浓度高于40%（v/v）。我们还表明，拉基亚中乙醇的测量浓度（平均值：46.7%（v/v），四分位间距（IQR）：43.4 - 52.1%（v/v））与报告浓度（平均值：18.9%（v/v），IQR：17.0 - 20.0%（v/v））之间存在显著差异。在所检测的金属中，铝、铜、铁、锰、铅和锌在拉基亚样品中的浓度分别为每升纯酒精（pa）0.013至0.866毫克、0.025至31.629毫克、0.004至1.173毫克、0.185至45.244毫克、0.044至1.337毫克和0.004至10.156毫克。铜和铅被发现是最令人担忧的，它们对公众健康构成潜在风险。尽管从未记录在案的拉基亚中这些重金属的估计每日摄入量低于其毒理学阈值，但分别有33%和90%的样品中铅和铜的浓度超过了为烈酒规定的每升纯酒精0.2毫克和2.0毫克的限值。因此，不能完全排除对健康产生不良影响的可能性。我们的研究结果凸显了政策制定者针对阿尔巴尼亚这些产品所带来的风险采取行动的必要性。
