The concentrations of 12 metals (Cd, Pb, Ni, Cr, Cu, Co, Fe, Mn, Zn, Ca, Mg and K) in 13 classes of alcoholic beverages were determined by atomic spectrometry after HNO 3 /H 2 O 2 digestion. The mean concentrations of metals (μg mL À1 ) in these alcoholic beverages varied in the ranges 0.01-0.04, 0.02-0.24, 0.04-0.13, 0.01-0.28, 0.01-0.77, <0.001-0.12, 0.28-1.48, 0.004-0.33, 0.10-1.02, 1. 43-162.86, 0.26-25.46 and 0.49-322.58 for Cd, Pb, Ni, Cr, Cu, Co, Fe, Mn, Zn, Ca, Mg and K respectively. The concentrations of metals found in these particular alcoholic beverages were below the International Statutory Limits for metals in alcoholic beverages. The estimated daily intake of the metals based on a per capita consumption of 3.6 L per annum pure alcohol was <3% of the tolerable daily intake of each metal. The individual and combined target hazard quotients of the metals were <1, indicating no long-term health concerns from the consumption of these alcoholic beverages based on their metal content alone.

Concentrations of zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), chromium (Cr), vanadium (V) and cobalt (Co) were measured in 190 samples covering 19 different brands of popular baby foods in Nigeria to assess whether the intakes complied with the recommended desired levels for essential metals and permissible levels for toxic elements. The mean concentrations of Zn, Cu, Cd, Pb, Fe, Ni, Cr, V and Co in different types of infant foods were found to vary from 1.8-7.8; <0.001-0.1; <0.001-0.02; 0.01-0.1; 4.4-25.8; 0.03-0.06; 0.1-1.6; <0.001-0.1 to <0.001-0.1 µg g(-1), respectively. The average concentrations of these metals were higher in soy-based formulas than milk-based infant foods. The estimated average daily intakes of metals through the consumption of these brands of infant foods for ages 0-6 and 7-12 months were 118.6 and 163.5; 1.0 and 1.9; 0.2 and 0.3; 1.3 and 1.8; 294.8 and 530.6; 1.0 and 1.1; 15.1 and 20.6; and 0.8 and 4.0 µg kg(-1) body weight (bw) day(-1) for Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd, Fe, Ni, Cr and Co, respectively. The daily intakes of non-essential elements of these metals through baby foods are well below the recommended tolerable levels. Similarly, the daily intake levels of essential elements (e.g. Zn, Co, Cu and Fe) were also significantly lower than the recommended desirable levels in infant foods.

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