Bioaccessibility and arsenic speciation in carrots, beets and quinoa from a contaminated area of Chile

The study is focused on locally-grown, such as carrots, beets and quinoa from the As-polluted Chiu Chiu area in Northern Chile. For the vegetables, were investigated: i) Their total As, Cu, Pb, Cr, Cd and Mn content ii) Arsenic speciation by LC-ICPMS analysis; iii) Arsenic bioaccessibility iv) Arsenic species present in the extracts and v) Arsenic dietary exposure. In vitro gastrointestinal digestion of As from carrots and beets, whereas efficiency was about 40% for quinoa. For carrots, only As(III) and As(V) species were found, being their concentration levels similar. In the case of quinoa, around 85% of the element was present as As(V).