Radiation dose to Malaysian populace via the consumption of roasted ground and instant coffee
Introduction
Coffee, produced from the seeds and berries of the coffee plant, has become one of the most popular and widely consumed beverages in the world. It is slightly acidic (5.0–5.1 pH) and due to its caffeine content it can have a stimulating effect on humans (Roselli et al., 2013). Increasing in popularity and also accompanied in many countries by the establishment of many popular brand coffeehouses, coffee consumption accompanies the holding of many social gatherings and meetings, Malaysia included.
Coffee, apparently basic, is more properly a complex mixture of neutriceuticals including minerals, lipids, caffeine, proteins, fats, carbohydrates and water (ICS, 2001); micro-roasted coffee may provide particular additional supplements, one instance being niacin (vitamin B3) in the range 10–40 mg/100 g, potentially reducing cholesterol levels and lowering cardiovascular risks (Adrian and Frangne, 1991). A recent study by Montagnana et al. (2012) suggests a lower risk of cardiovascular diseases is associated with coffee consumption down to less than one cup of coffee per day while it becomes higher for ≥ 4 cups per day. Such health benefits are said to be directly related to coffee contents of bioactive compounds, chemical elements, minerals, micronutrients etc. The accumulation of mineral elements and other micronutrients in the coffee bean generally depends on many factors; species, age, root distribution of the plant, physical and chemical nature of the soil, proportions and distributions of elements, the use of fertilizers and the general climatic conditions (Anderson and Smith, 2002; Nabrzyski and Szefer, 2006). In the process of minerals and micronutrients uptake, the plant root system is incapable of differentiating between the nutrients (potassium and calcium included) and their chemically analogous radioactive nuclides (Asaduzzaman et al., 2014). Thus there are potential radiological dose considerations that need to be accounted for.
Three categories of radionuclide/radioactive material (primordial, cosmogenic and man-made) are commonly found in soil, water and other environmental media. The primordial radionuclides (40K, 238U, 232Th etc.) have very long half-lives, prevailing since the creation of the Earth. Additionally, cosmic bombardment of stable nuclides in the atmospheric produces cosmogenic radionuclides which in falling to the ground then deposit in the soil. Finally, consideration needs to be made of the presence in the environment of artificial/anthropomorphic radionuclides, produced for use of radiation in medicine, industry, agriculture etc. as well as being the residues of nuclear energy generation and nuclear device testing and utilisation. These can be deposited in the soil by the various potential pathways (e.g., airborne, aquifer etc) (Alrefae et al., 2018). All these radionuclides appear in plant life together with the minerals and nutrients necessary for vitality, either through uptake by the root system via specific transporter or ion channels or through direct atmospheric interception onto external plant surfaces, also indirectly from re-suspended material (Khandaker et al., 2019a). Such existence enables transport into the human food chain, humans ingesting the radionuclides via daily food and water intake, also through inhalation, the soil-plant-human pathway acting as a primary route for the transfer of radionuclides to humans (Khandaker et al., 2016). Tettey-Larbi et al. (2013) reported that under normal environmental conditions, some 90% of the load of 226Ra (one of the major progeny of 238U) within the human enters into the human body via the food chain. The radionuclides can subsequently accumulate in various parts of the body, the long biological half-lives of many radionuclides making them a potential risk to human health via internal exposure, in particular from the high LET/low range alpha and beta particle emissions from the radionuclides.
A general survey on literature reveals that a considerable studies on natural radioactivity in soil, water and foodstuffs are conducted and reported in scientific platform including the leading journal of Radiation Physics and Chemistry. Some of the published works from different region in the world are as follows: Madruga et al. (2020) performed a detailed study on estimation of the internal effective dose to the Portuguese population due to the inhalation and intake of radionuclides through the ingestion of milk, foodstuffs and drinking water. Domingo et al. (2017) studied the level of radio-caesium and potassium in sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) collected from the Alberni Inlet on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada using low-background gamma-ray spectroscopy. Mohery et al. (2014) studied the level of natural radioactivity in soil and sediment samples in the Jeddah region of Saudi Arabia to realize the radiation hazards due to the technological development of industry, agriculture and other sources around the region. Maxwell et al. (2015) measured the activity concentrations of uranium and toxic elements in borehole and hand-dug well water from Abuja, Nigeria to assess the human radiological risk over lifetime consumption by the inhabitants in the area. Acknowledging mineral water to form a vital component of the intake in maintaining the healthy life of an individual, Khandaker et al. (2017) studied the associated radiological implications due to the presence of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORMs) in bottled mineral water collected from Malaysia. Almayahi et al. (2014) performed a detailed study on the accumulation of natural and artificial radionuclides in human teeth, animal bones, and soil from the Northern Malaysian Peninsula, and reported higher concentrations in teeth than in bones, in teeth from smokers than those in non-smokers and in female teeth than in male teeth. Recognizing their importance in the average Malaysian daily diet, Khandaker et al. (2013) determined the radioactivity concentrations in mollusc- and crustacean-based foodstuffs, and estimated the committed effective dose to Malaysian population following the consumption characteristics of the studied foodstuffs. Bajoga et al. (2017) carried out a detailed study of natural radioactivity in soil samples from the state of Kuwait to ascertain the NORM concentration values across the country, and concludes an indication of no evidence for a radiologically significant dispersion of additional depleted uranium across the entire State of Kuwait from the 1991 Gulf War. Cetiner et al. (2011) measured background radiation at the Çanakkale region in Turkey as a part of a general survey program for evaluation of the environmental radioactivity by the Turkish Atomic Energy Authority, and reported a higher dose rates at some spas and beaches than general values. Saleh et al. (2014) reported a baseline data of environmental terrestrial radiation and assess the corresponding health risk in the ambient environment in Muar District, Johor, Malaysia in view of the possible construction of nuclear power plant in the future. Charro and Moyano (2017) evaluated the uptake and transfer of natural radionuclides in different tissues of native plants from uranium mining-impacted soils in Central-West of Spain. Melquiades and Appoloni (2001) measured the natural and artificial radioactivities in powdered milk produced at Londrina, Brazil by using HPGe gamma ray spectrometry. El-Marakby et al. (2020) performed an assessment of chronic exposure effects and radioadaptive response of NORMs by considering their production as by-products or waste from the technologically enhanced activities of gas and oil industries. Natural radioactivity in soil and the associated radiation hazards were studied by Ravisankar et al. (2012) to provide the background radioactivity concentrations in Yelagiri hills, India.
While studies of natural radionuclide concentrations in various foodstuffs are available in the literature, information on the distribution and enrichment of radionuclides in coffee is sparse. Notable among the few published studies on radioactivity of coffee are an Italian study of natural radioactivity in coffee powder and coffee beverage (Roselli et al., 2013), Alharbi and Alamoudi (2017) making a comparative study between Arabian and Turkish coffee powder samples and Abd El Wahab and Morsy (2006) determined the concentration of natural radionuclides in a particular brand distributed in Egypt. Malaysian coffee plantations are prominent, Malaysia also having a strong coffee drinks culture (on average, in Malaysia 2.38 cups of coffee are consumed daily; https://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/coffee-culture-in-malaysia-marketing-essay.php). Thus said, no previous estimation of radiological dose via the consumption of coffee in Malaysia has been published. Thus, the purpose of present research has been to determine the natural radioactivity in coffee consumed by the Malaysian populace, also evaluating the radiological risk.
Section snippets
Collection and processing of samples
A total of twelve of the most popular brands of roasted ground/instant coffee available in Malaysia were collected from a number of supermarkets in Kuala Lumpur and Perak, the coffee originating from a number of countries, including Malaysia. Details of the selected samples are shown in Table 1.
The samples, codes A to L, were dried at 80 °C in an oven, for durations of between 10 to 24 h, the choice mitigating against physical changes in the samples (eg sample gaseous evolution). The dried
Results and discussion
The activity concentration of 226Ra, 228Ra and 40K and their mean values are presented in Table 1, 226Ra showing a range from 6.4 ± 1.3 to 21.4 ± 2.4 Bq/kg with a mean of 11.3 ± 1.7 Bq/kg. The greatest activity concentration of 226Ra was in Sample C, the lowest being in Sample B, both from Malaysia. The activity concentrations of 228Ra were observed to be in the range 6.6 ± 1.8–47.9 ± 10.6 Bq/kg with a mean of 19.3 ± 4.3 Bq/kg. The greatest value for this was found in Sample L, with the lowest
Conclusion
The activity concentrations of naturally occurring 226Ra, 228Ra and 40K radionuclides in ground/instant coffee were measured using gamma ray spectrometry. Twelve varieties of coffee, imported from seven different countries were collected and studied, with 40K representing the greatest contributor in all samples followed by 228Ra and 226Ra with varying amounts; no trace (below detection limits) of artificial radioactivity was found. Sample E from Brunei showed the greatest value for 40K of
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Mayeen Uddin Khandaker: Conceptualization, Supervision, Funding acquisition, Writing - review & editing. Nur Khairunnisa Zainuddin: Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing - original draft. D.A. Bradley: Writing - review & editing. M.R.I. Faruque: Visualization. F.I. Almasoud: Formal analysis. M.I. Sayyed: Data curation, Investigation. A. Sulieman: Software, Validation. P.J. Jojo: Methodology.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
Acknowledgements
Sunway University, Malaysia internal Grant no.: INT-2019-SHMS-CBP-02 has been acknowledged.
References (42)
- et al.
Measurements of natural radionuclides in human teeth and animal bones as markers of radiation exposure from soil in the Northern Malaysian Peninsula
Radiat. Phys. Chem.
(2014) - et al.
Committed effective dose to the Kuwaiti population via the dietary intake of red meat
Results Phys.
(2018) - et al.
Soil-to- root vegetable transfer factors for 226Ra, 232Th, 40K, and 88Y in Malaysia
J. Environ. Radioact.
(2014) - et al.
Evaluation of naturally occurring radioactivity across the State of Kuwait using high-resolution gamma-ray spectrometry
Radiat. Phys. Chem.
(2017) Radionuclide transfer from soil to fruit
J. Environ. Radioact.
(2001)- et al.
High background radiation areas at Çanakkale in Turkey
Radiat. Phys. Chem.
(2011) - et al.
Soil and vegetation influence in plants natural radionuclides uptake at a uranium mining site
Radiat. Phys. Chem.
(2017) - et al.
Studying levels of Fukushima-derived radioactivity in sockeye salmon collected on the west coast of Vancouver Island
Radiat. Phys. Chem.
(2017) - et al.
Assessment of chronic exposure effects and radioadaptive response of natural occurring radioactive materials (NORM)
Radiat. Phys. Chem.
(2020) - et al.
Elevated concentration of radioactive potassium in edible algae cultivated in Malaysian seas and estimation of ingestion dose to humans
Algal Research
(2019)
Evaluation of radionuclides transfer from soil-to edible flora and estimation of radiological dose to the Malaysian populace
Chemosphere
Radiation dose to the Malaysian populace via the consumption of bottled mineral water
Radiat. Phys. Chem.
Internal effective dose assessment for the public based on the environmental radioactivity data in Portugal
Radiat. Phys. Chem.
Radioactivity level and toxic elemental concentration in groundwater at Dei-Dei and Kubwa areas of Abuja, north-central Nigeria
Radiat. Phys. Chem.
Radiation of powdered milk produced at Londrina, PR, Brazil
Radiat. Phys. Chem.
Environmental radiation levels in soil and sediment samples collected from floating water from a land runway resulting from heavy rains in the Jeddah region
KSA. Radiation Physics and Chemistry
Concentrations of selenium, barium, and radium in Brazil nuts
J. Food Compos. Anal.
Natural radioactivity in soil samples of Yelagiri Hills, Tamil Nadu, India and the associated radiation hazards
Radiat. Phys. Chem.
Assessment of radiological health implicat from ambient environment in the Muar district, Johor, Malaysia
Radiat. Phys. Chem.
Study of radioactivity pollution in various foods from local market by gamma – ray spectrometry
Synthesis and availability of niacin in roasted coffee
Adv. Exp. Med. Biol.
Cited by (15)
Radioactivity and concomitant radiation dose from Malaysian herbal plants
2023, Radiation Physics and ChemistryRadioactivity and elemental concentrations of natural and commercial salt
2022, Radiation Physics and ChemistryEvaluation of radiometric standards of major building materials used in dwellings of South-Western Nigeria
2021, Radiation Physics and ChemistryRadioactivity in staple foodstuffs and concomitant dose to the population of Jigawa state, Nigeria
2021, Radiation Physics and ChemistryNorm in cultivated honey in Malaysia and concomitant effective dose to consumers
2023, Radiation Protection DosimetryIngestion exposure of public to natural radionuclides and committed effective dose and cancer risk through tuber crops cultivated in Ebonyi State, Nigeria
2023, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment