MICROELEMENT COMPOSITION OF BASIC CONSUMPTION PRODUCTS IN THE TRANSCARPATHIAN REGION, UKRAINE

Abstract

Traditional food products (milk and vegetables) form the diet basis and are the main source of essential trace elements (microelements). The contents of trace elements in food products obtained from various landscape areas significantly differ. Transcarpathia has a pronounced tectonic and geological diversity. The young Carpathian Mountains face high tectonic and geological activity, which can affect the microelement composition of food products. A significant difference in the microelement composition of milk and vegetable mix was found for different landscape zones, for instance, food in lowland areas is richer in Fe, Cu, Zn, Mo, Co, P, Se, I, Br, F, Ca, and Mg while food in mountainous areas contains large amounts of As and Mn. Consistent patterns of microelement distribution in the food products from different landscape zones (lowland > foothill > mountainous) were estimated using the Spearman correlation coefficient. For milk samples: Fe: 0.91; Cu: 0.89; Mn: -0.94; Zn: 0.88; Mo: 0.89; Co: 0.94; Ca: 0.91; Mg: 0.91; P: 0.92; As: -0.94; Se: 0.82; I: 0.84; Br: 0.73; F: 0.82, for vegetable mix samples: Fe: 0.91; Cu: 0.85; Mn: -0.94; Zn: 0.79; Mo: 0.90; Co: 0.92; Ca: 0.94; Mg: 0.94; P: 0.80; As: -0.91; Se: 0.84; I: 0.91; Br: 0.73; F: 0.88. Pronounced inter-element correlation of microelements in food products is observed (the value of the Pearson correlation coefficient for all pairs of chemical elements is r > 0.60).