Chromium levels in potable water, fruit juices and soft drinks: influence on dietary intake.

Potable water, fruit juices and soft drinks are some of the most widespread beverages in the habitual diet, and they can contribute to chromium dietary intake. We determined the concentration of chromium in 90 different samples of beverages widely consumed in Spain. Graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry was used to analyze samples processed with a HNO3-V2O5 acid digestion pretreatment. In water samples Cr was directly determined. We verified the sensitivity, accuracy and precision of the method and ruled out matrix interferences. In analyzed samples, chromium values ranged from not detectable to 11.80 micrograms/l in potable water, from not detectable to 17.60 micrograms/l in fruit juices and from 3.60 to 60.50 micrograms/l in soft drinks. The chromium levels we encountered are low and the contribution of non-alcoholic beverages to dietary intake of this element, have been estimated to be 0.41 microgram/day in the common Spanish diet.