Q. Heavy Metals require for the normal finctioning of our body?

Like the foods we consume, our bodies also contain many metallic elements. Most of these metals are actually required for the normal finctioning of our bodies. Some of these metals, especially the heavy metals are toxic. Heavy metals like mercury, cadmium, nickel, arsenic, lead and aluminium are used by several industries. These contaminate our foods when factories throw their waste products Into the seas and rivers or bury their wastes before appropriately treating them. Smoke from industries, as well as, exhaust fumes from vehicles and machinery pollute the atmosphere. Thus heavy metals enter our bodies via the water we drink, the air we breathe and the food that is grown in such contaminated soil.

Metals may also enter food from metallic cans in which the food is packaged. Acidic conditions in the stored products may cause the surface layer of the cans to dissolve into the food products. Aluminium containers which can also be slowly dissolved under acidic conditions are more rapidly corroded under more alkaline conditions. Another source of chemical contaminants is vessels and utensils used in cooking and storage of pripared foods and beverages. Vessels,made of Erass are usually tinned from inside. Poor quality tin coating or inlproper tinning of the vessels can result in tin and copper leaching into the food cooked or stored in the vessel.