Muhollari Teuta, Szűcs Sándor, McKee Martin, Ádány Róza, Sajtos Zsófi, Baranyai Edina, Pál László
Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, P.O. Box 400, Debrecen, 4002, Hungary.
Department of Health Services Research and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.
Sci Rep. 2025 May 31;15(1):19150. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-03338-4.
Excessive alcohol consumption poses a challenge to public health across Europe, but especially in the Balkan region, where alcohol from unrecorded sources, particularly home-distilled rakia, is widely consumed. Our previous research identified elevated lead and copper levels in rakia from these sources collected in Albania. However, due to its disputed political status and absence from many international health surveys, data on the composition of home-made rakia from Kosovo remains scarce. To address this knowledge gap, we report an analysis of 30 rakia samples from unrecorded sources collected in Kosovo, measuring 24 elements, including toxic metals, using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. The ethanol concentration of the samples was determined by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. In addition, we have applied the target hazard quotient and the margin of exposure (MOE) methods to assess the associated health risks. We find that the threshold limits of copper, iron, nickel, and lead have been exceeded in 96.7%, 3.3%, 3.3% and 26.7% of rakia samples, respectively. The health risk assessment showed that the MOE value of lead for both average and heavy drinkers was less than 100 when consuming unrecorded rakia, indicating potential for adverse health effects. Along with previous research, these findings highlight the need for targeted public health research in the Balkan region to better understand the impact of unrecorded alcohol on disease burden and mortality and how to develop policies that strengthen enforcement of trading standards.
过量饮酒给整个欧洲的公共卫生带来了挑战，在巴尔干地区尤为如此，该地区未经记录来源的酒精，特别是家庭自酿的拉克酒被广泛饮用。我们之前的研究发现，在阿尔巴尼亚收集的这些来源的拉克酒中铅和铜含量升高。然而，由于其有争议的政治地位以及在许多国际健康调查中未被涉及，关于科索沃自制拉克酒成分的数据仍然匮乏。为了填补这一知识空白，我们报告了对在科索沃收集的30个未经记录来源的拉克酒样本的分析，使用电感耦合等离子体发射光谱法测量了包括有毒金属在内的24种元素。通过气相色谱/质谱法测定了样本的乙醇浓度。此外，我们应用了目标危害商数和暴露边际（MOE）方法来评估相关的健康风险。我们发现，分别有96.7%、3.3%、3.3%和26.7%的拉克酒样本中铜、铁、镍和铅的含量超过了阈值。健康风险评估表明，饮用未经记录的拉克酒时，普通饮酒者和重度饮酒者的铅的MOE值均小于100，这表明存在对健康产生不利影响的可能性。与之前的研究一起，这些发现凸显了在巴尔干地区开展有针对性的公共卫生研究的必要性，以便更好地了解未经记录的酒精对疾病负担和死亡率的影响，以及如何制定加强贸易标准执行的政策。
