RESEARCH ARTICLE Candy consumption may add to the body burden of lead and cadmium of children in Nigeria Orish Ebere Orisakwe 1 & Zelinjo Nkeiruka Igweze 2 & Nnaemeka Arinze Udowelle 1 Received: 18 June 2018 /Accepted: 6 November 2018 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract The affordability of candies and chocolates makes their consumption common especially in children. Heavy metal contamination of these candies is well known. This study has estimated health risks associated with heavy metals (HM; Pb, Cd, Cr, Ni, and Zn) in commonly consumed candies in Nigeria. Fifty candies/sweets and chocolates/chewing gums bought from different stores in Port Harcourt and Uyo in Niger Delta, Nigeria, were processed and digested in perchloric acid. The filtrate was analyzed for these heavy metals using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). Pb/Zn and Cd/Zn ratios were calculated. Daily intake, the target hazard quotient (THQ), the hazard index (HI), and the cancer risk were estimated for children. About 80% of the samples exceeded the 0.1 mg/kg permissible lead level in candies. Milk sweet had the highest Pb:Zn and Cd:Zn ratios of 0.99 and 0.40 respectively. For chocolates, the Emperor had the highest Pb:Zn (0.50) ratios and Trident had the highest Cd:Zn (0.57) ratios. The calculated percentage provisional tolerable weekly intake (%PTWI) of cadmium from consumption of chocolates and candies was higher than the Joint Expert Committee for Food Additives (JECFA) standard, and the cancer risk of lead, cadmium, and chromium ranged between 10 -7 and 10 -3 . Consumption of some candies by children in Nigeria may pose significant health risks. Keywords Confectioneries . Health risk assessment . Potential toxic metals . Public health Introduction Background of study Candies are a popular food consumed by Nigerian kids be- tween the ages of 1 and 10 years, who snack on it almost on a daily basis. This sweet food is primarily made of sugar and/or chocolate and is often eaten between meals. It usually encom- passes any sweet confectionary ranging from chocolates, chewing gum, and sugar candy. Common ingredients in candies are sugar, water, cocoa, honey, milk, and sweeteners (aspartame), most of which are gotten from plant or animal sources. Recently in 2016, Scan Holdings described any fruit, vegetable, or nut which has been glazed and coated with sugar as being candied (Scan Holdings 2016). The affordability of these sweet foods in Nigeria has made craving and consump- tion high. The different ingredients used in the preparation of candies and chocolates are likely to increase the risk of contamination (Devi et al. 2016). There is also a high risk of heavy metals, such as Pb, Cr, Ti, Zn, Al, Cd, and Cu migrating from the printed surface to the contact surface (Bradley et al. 2005). However, most heavy metals are introduced during the prep- aration and also during the packaging process when the candies’ surfaces are sticky, allowing the surface of the candy to adhere to the inner cover of the package (Adebola et al. 2015), thereby increasing the risk of contamination and heavy metal exposure. Food is the most common non-occupational source of ex- posure to heavy metals for humans (WHO 1996; Ihedioha et al. 2014). The study of heavy metal concentration in foods is of great importance, as there is a growing concern about imported foods from different parts of the world (Maxwell and Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues * Orish Ebere Orisakwe orishebere@gmail.com 1 Department of Experimental Pharmacology & Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Port-Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria 2 Department of Experimental Pharmacology & Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Madonna University, Elele, Rivers State, Nigeria Environmental Science and Pollution Research https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-3706-3