Geophagy practices and the content of chemical elements in the soil eaten by pregnant women in artisanal and small scale gold mining communities in Tanzania

Table 3 Chemical element content in pemba and kichuguu eaten by pregnant women

	Location	Sample	Total chemical element in mg/kg
	Sourced	Identity	As	Cd	Cr	Cu	Fe	Hg	Mn	Ni	Pb	Zn
Pemba	Kigoma	KIG 01	0.290	<0.001	114	58.6	85607	<0.001	289	59.0	<0.01	101
		KIG 02	0.490	<0.001	146	62.4	88382	<0.001	288	60.7	<0.01	104
		KIG 03	0.310	<0.001	111	63.1	89756	<0.001	283	63.4	<0.01	78.1
		KIG 04	0.270	<0.001	119	68.0	87269	<0.001	284	63.9	<0.01	80.4
		*Mean*	0.340	-	123	63.0	87754	-	286	61.8	-	90.9
		SD	0.101	-	16.0	3.9	1756	-	2.9	2.3	-	13.5
	Musoma	MSG 01	0.200	<0.001	65.0	27.5	34643	<0.001	1290	4.0	1.9	20.7
		MSG 02	0.190	<0.001	68.5	27.9	34534	<0.001	1312	4.7	2.8	23.1
		MSG 03	0.460	<0.001	98.3	58.9	34663	<0.001	1436	42.2	<0.01	68.3
		MSG 04	0.390	<0.001	94.7	58.9	35491	<0.001	1400	42.4	<0.01	28.1
		*Mean*	0.310	-	81.6	43.3	34833	-	1360	23.3	2.4	35.1
		SD	0.136	-	17.3	18.0	442	-	69.7	21.9	0.636	22.4
Kichuguu	Katolo	KTG 01	4.8	0.025	108	61.5	35878	0.039	861	51.3	7.4	45.5
		KTG 02	4.6	<0.001	98.5	62.3	57916	0.065	762	53.8	6.4	38.5
	Rwamagasa	RWG 01	14.8	0.092	97.3	79.7	55983	0.056	671	45.4	2.9	101
		RWG 02	19.7	0.220	287	169	68922	0.075	1325	128	3.9	112
	Geita	GTG 01	0.790	<0.001	103	46.4	33884	0.020	571	60.8	1.5	24.4
		GTG 02	3.0	0.044	41.5	67.4	43929	0.037	828	39.4	6.0	27.8
	Kasamwa	KSG 01	3.1	0.035	133	53.8	45600	0.039	1303	65.9	6.2	28.7
		KSG 02	4.5	0.035	68.8	58.7	51649	0.032	1243	43.4	5.8	30.7
	Nyankumbu	NYG 01	3.2	0.016	132	50.0	42919	0.015	1343	69.8	5.8	25.6
		NYG 02	5.3	<0.001	108	52.9	38765	0.041	529	55.9	7.0	26.8
	Bukoli	BKG 01	3.3	0.016	73.0	63.4	46401	0.022	761	83.1	9.4	41.8
		BKG 02	3.6	<0.001	99.9	51.1	45912	0.052	602	56.6	8.3	45.3
	Chikobe	CHG 01	5.0	<0.001	246	69.9	72204	0.072	2515	101	11.3	34.5
		CKG 02	5.9	0.016	216	61.4	56838	0.074	1251	113	8.7	29.2
		*Mean*	5.8	0.055	129	67.7	49771	0.046	1040	69.1	6.5	43.7
		SD	5.1	0.066	70.7	30.5	11501	0.020	522	27.3	2.6	27.6

As=arsenic; Cd=cadmium; Cr=chromium; Cu=copper; Fe=iron; Hg=mercury; Mn=manganese; Ni=nickel; Pb=lead; Zn=zinc.

ISSN: 1471-2393