Agnieszka Marzec

Dietary exposure to cadmium, lead and nickel among students from south-east Poland

The dietary intake of cadmium, lead and nickel was determined among students from three universities in the city of Lublin in south-east Poland to assess the levels of exposure to these contaminants, compared to PTWI and TDI values. The study was performed in 2006–2010 and involved 850 daily food rations of students. The technique of 24-hour dietary recall and diet duplicates was used. Cadmium, lead and nickel complexes with ammonium-pyrrolidindithiocarbamate were formed and extracted to the organic phase with 4-methylpentan-2-one–MIBK, in which their content was measured by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The highest intake of the elements studied was observed in 2008. The data show that in none of the cases, the level of intake reached 70% of PTWI/TDI values, and thus the risk of developing diseases related to high exposure to these toxic metals absorbed from foodstuffs was low. The parameters of methods were checked during determinations by adding standard solutions to the samples before mineralization and by using two reference materials: Total diet ARC/CL HDP and Bovine muscle RM NIST 8414. The dietary exposure to lead and cadmium has significantly decreased in recent years, whereas the exposures to nickel remains on a stable level.

Application of dietetics in reproductive medicine

In the light of up-to-date epidemiological data concerning the prevalence of infertility, and also considering the scale of the problem of obesity and proven cause-effect relationship between abnormal body weight and infertility, it is justifiable to undertake the task of systematization of the state of knowledge concerning nutritional correlates of infertility, in order to create a scientific basis for the formulation of the assumptions of a fertility diet. The study is an attempt to systematize the current state of knowledge concerning the importance of energy and structural (qualitative) aspects of nutrition in the prevention and treatment of infertility.