Determination of Some Heavy Metals in Oil Sunflower Seeds Grown in the North of Turkey

This study aims to determine some heavy metal contents (boron, aluminum, manganese, iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc, cadmium, and lead) of eighteen sunflower seeds obtained from six regions in the Middle Black Sea Region where sunflower is grown. The ICP- MS device was used to determine the heavy metal concentrations in the study, and cadmium, and lead amounts in the samples examined at the end of the study were found in the range of 0-0.06 μg kg-1 and 0-1.07 μg kg-1, respectively. The highest heavy metal concentrations in all the examples were obtained as iron (13.14-61.04 μg kg-1), zinc (34.11-54.12 μg kg-1), copper (15.68-20.7 μg kg-1), and manganese (12.72-20.20 μg kg-1). These heavy metals were followed by boron (4.82-10.33 μg kg-1), aluminum (0-13.12 μg kg-1), and nickel (0.88- 7.74 μg kg-1). The lowest heavy metal concentration was cobalt (0.037-0.12 μg kg-1). As a result, the heavy metal concentrations found in the sunflower seeds grown in the Middle Black Sea region were lower than the limit values threading to human health.