Page 180 - 00. Complete Version - Progress Report IPEN 2014-2016

180 Nuclear Science and Technology | Progress Report

Fig 25. Crassostrea genus oyster shells.

samples, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy anal- a regular basis in several areas of nutrition
ysis was used. Differences between origins, and foodstuffs.
elemental composition and mineralogical pa-
rameters were used to correlate the results Total Diet Studies: Determination
obtained. The normalization factor was cal- of essential and toxic elements in
culated using sea water and La as normaliz- foodstuffs from São Paulo city.
er. Samples were analyzed by chemometric
statistical methods: Pearson correlation co- The techniques of Neutron Activation Analy-
efficient and cluster analysis. The results ob- sis and Atomic Absorption Spectrometry have
tained by this normalization indicated a good been applied to determine the content of es-
separation between samples from mangrove sential and toxic elements in diets from dif-
regions and samples from the region of higher ferent Brazilian regions. During this period, a
salinity corroborating the hypothesis that the Total Diet Study (TDS) was carried out using
elemental composition of the oyster shells is data of food consumption of the Southeast re-
indicative of the environment in which they gion of Brazil based in the POF 2008-2009 Na-
formed. Therefore, the application to environ- tional Household Food Budget Survey of the
mental and paleo-environmental studies can Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statis-
be an important application of these results. tics (IBGE), to evaluate essential (Ca, Cu, Cr, Fe,
Mg, Mn, K, Na, Se and Zn) and toxic element
Nutritional studies in (As, Cd, Hg) dietary intakes. This study is on

foodstuffs and diets the context of the Fapesp Project 2013/08869-
6 about Brazilian Total Diet Study that was ap-
Food being the main source of intake of ele- proved for the 2013-2015 period. This study is
ments, it becomes imperative to monitor the the 2nd TDS, carried out by our laboratory, and
concentration of toxic and essential elements included daily individual food consumed both
in various food items and products of daily con- inside and outside of the household, resulting
sumption. Trace element concentrations have in a total daily individual consumption of the
been measured extensively in Brazilian food population. The food group approach was cho-
and diets of different regions. Neutron Activa- sen over the individual approach so as to pro-
tion Analysis, NAA, has become an important vide a smaller number of food samples to the
and useful research tool due to the methodol- kitchen preparation and analysis. The Food
ogy’s advantages. These include high accura- List included 82 food items reported consumed
cy, small quantities of samples and no chem- foods, according to the survey. Since it is un-
ical treatment has been successfully used on available for individual laboratory analyses,

Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares