Lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic are the most important heavy metals which may cause health risks following consumption of contaminated foods. Table Salt is one the mostly used food additive with unique place in food consumption. Although purified Table Salt is expected to have lower level of contamination, some Iranians still prefer to use rock Salt. Use of rock Salt for food purposes has been banned by Iranian health authorities. In this study, heavy metal contamination of Table Salt consumed in Iran has been investigated. One hundred samples of rock and refined Table Salts were analyzed using atomic absorption spectrophotometeric methods for the presence of toxic heavy metals. The mean concentration of tested tracer metals including Cd, Pb, Hg and As was 0.024, 0.438, 0.021 and 0.094 mg/g, respectively. The concentrations of tested heavy metals were well below the maximum levels set by Codex. However, no statistically significant difference was found between contamination of rock Salt and refined Salt to heavy metals.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Microplastics are plastic fragments measuring less than 5 millimeters which are formed from degraded plastic materials and have the potential to pollute the environment. Due to their widespread presence in the marine environment, microplastics have become a significant global threat. The presence of microplastics is often considered as causing pollution in various environments, especially aquatic ecosystems such as rivers and oceans. Microplastics contamination can even be found in consumed Salt, thus raising concerns about its impact on human health. However, information on the presence of microplastics in Salt is still very limited. This study aims to determine the abundance and characteristics of microplastics as contaminants in Salt and assess the human exposure to microplastics in Indonesia.METHODS: A total of 21 samples of Salt products were taken from various brands available in Padang City and Jambi City, Indonesia for analysis. Microplastics extraction was carried out by removing the organic materials contained in the Salt samples using 30 percent hydrogen peroxide and then filtering them with a 0.45 micrometer pore filter. A stereomicroscope was used to detect the abundance, shape, size, and color of microplastics, while the Attenuated Total Reflection-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy was utilized to identify the polymer type of the microplastics. Furthermore, human exposure to microplastics can be predicted by calculating the estimated dietary intake and taking into account the daily Salt intake.FINDINGS: Microplastics were detected in significant amounts (p<0.05) in all Salt samples, ranging from 33 to 313 particles/kilogram. The types of microplastics most commonly found in the samples were fragments (67.49 percent), fibers (23.82 percent), films (6.08 percent), and pellets (2.61 percent). The types of polymer identified include polyethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, and polyester. The dominant microplastics were 100-300 micrometers in size (47.3 percent) and black in color (52.88 percent). It is estimated that adults in Indonesia will be exposed to 60.225-571.225 microplastics/year if they consume 5 grams of Salt/day or 120.45-1142.45 microplastics/year if they consume 10 grams of Salt/day.CONCLUSION: Of the 21 Salt samples analyzed, all were detected to contain microplastics. Inadequate and unhygienic Salt production and contaminated seawater used as raw material contribute to microplastics contamination of Salt, thus posing a risk to human health. By calculating of daily Salt intake of the Indonesian population, it is possible to estimate their daily and annual exposure to microplastics. The results of this study contain useful information for the efforts to prevent microplastics contamination by relevant stakeholders and the provision of education and socialization about the proper Salt production process in accordance with food safety standards as to reduce or even eliminate microplastics in Salt. In addition, this study can provide valuable data on human exposure to microplastics in Salt products that can assist policymakers in making standard references for microplastics.

Dear Editor, Common viral warts (plane and filiform/digitate) are often chronic and resistant to treatment and their treatment might be difficult in children. So far, several approaches with varying degrees of success have been attempted. It has been observed that the capillaries of resolving warts naturally thrombose, resulting in brown to black dots on the surface of the warts (1). Furthermore, Table Salt and its saturated hypertonic solution (SHS) act as a topical sclerosing agent, which is effective in the treatment of pyogenic granuloma (2) and in labial mucocele as per authors’,personal experience. Based on these observations and reports, the feeding capillaries of warts can be sclerosed topically with Table Salt and its SHS. In this letter, wepropose a novelmethodof treating viral warts with topical sclerotherapy...

Background: Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), particularly hypertension (HTN), issupposed tobe one leading causes of health burden both developed and developing countries.Since sodium chloride (NaCl) intake is considered to be one of the most common contributors of HTN, we decided to investigate the daily intake of NaCl, using duplicate portion sampling (DPS) combined with instrumental analysis, in Shiraz population and also to compare it either with the dietary reference intake (DRI) or mean daily Salt intake of western societies.Methods: The duplicate diet samples of 21 different breakfasts, lunches and dinners (in 2 replicates), prepared for 7 consequent days of patients with no particular nutritional requirements, were collected from the kitchen at Namazi hospital, Shiraz, Iran, and transferred to food chemistry laboratory at refrigerated temperature. Concentration of NaCl was measured according to AOAC method. Data was then analyzed using SPSS 16.0.Results: The average daily intake of NaCl in Shiraz population was estimated to be 9.89±1.53 g (7.90-11.43 g) which is far from the adequate intake (AIs) of sodium chloride (2.9-3.8 g) set by institute of medicine (2004) and almost equal to the mean daily Salt intake of western countries (10-12 g per capita).Conclusion: Regular assessment of the mean daily Salt intake of Shiraz population as well as concurrent education is recommended for reducing Salt consumption and subsequently partial management of HTN.