[Intake of pollutants (heavy metals) via total diet at the national level as a whole and in autonomous communities: a new approach].

As an answer to the request of information on the real intake of pollutants, both WHO and FAO recommend its study through the study of total diet. Following their criteria we have determined the contents of arsenic, cadmium, mercury and lead in the total mean spanish diet and in the seventeen Autonomous Regions, comparing them with the acceptable daily intakes (ADI). At the same time it is studied the contribution of the different groups of nutrients to the total pollutant charge. There is no detectable health risk due to the intake through the total diet of arsenic, mercury or lead. However the intake of cadmium from the total national reaches 85% of ADI, which is higher in Galicia (153%), Canary Islands (129%) and Cantabria (103%) and is very close in Murcia (97%), Asturias (92%) and the Balearic Islands (85%).