Speciation of arsenic in licorice confectionery products and estimation of health risks.

摘要

Levels of total-arsenic (T-As) and arsenic species were determined by HPLC-HG-AAS in 10 liquorice confectionery products: 9 throat pearls and an industrial liquorice extract. Spanish legislation sets a max. total-As content in confectionery products at 0.1 mug/g. T-As concn. were above the permitted max. limit (mean of 0.219 +or- 0.008 mug/g). All arsenic was present in the form of toxic inorganic species. The average daily consumption of liquorice-confections in Spain is 1.1 g, leading to a daily intake of inorganic-As of 0.23 mug (0.2% of the tolerable daily intake of inorganic As for a teenager). These experimental results prove that even though high total-As concn. were found in liquorice throat pearls and that all the arsenic found was present as inorganic species, liquorice consumption in Spain does not represent a significant health risk.