Selected Essential and Non-Essential Elements Content of Turkish Hazelnuts

Besides being the largest hazelnut producer in the world, Turkey was also the foremost hazelnut exporting country. In this study, content of essential metals (Na, Mg, Ca, K, Fe) and toxic metals (Cu, Pb, Cd) in hazelnut samples from eastern and western parts of Black Sea Region in Turkey were analyzed, and the relationship among these metals were investigated. In addition, the estimated daily intake (EDI) of heavy metals was calculated. It was shown that the calculated EDI values for daily average consumption (20 g) were lower than the recommended values for Cu. Moreover, Cd and Pb were not detected in any of the samples. Potassium was observed to have the highest concentration with an average of 2348.37 mg·kg-1 among the investigated elements. In addition, Ca and Mg contents in hazelnut samples were also found to be rather high.