Unidad de Cultura Científica y de la Innovación

The excessive consumption of game may not be as healthy as it seems. The concentration of heavy metals in species such as deer, wild boar, rabbit or partridge is slightly superior to that of other meats from farms such as beef, pork or chicken. And if high consumption is added to this elevated proportion, as is usual in those who like game, the risk of suffering from illnesses related to the accumulation of heavy metals is considerably increased. This is what has been proved in a study undertaken by the ‘Heavy Metals’ Bromatological Health team of the University of Cordoba, made up of professors Rafael Moreno Rojas and Manuel Ángel Amaro López and the doctor and technician of the department, Jesús Sevillano Morales.

It isn’t the first time that bromatologists from the University of Cordoba have studied the contents of heavy metals in different food groups. For example, previous studies made known the contents of metals from fifty handmade cheeses of different origin, whose results have been published recently in the magazine Food Additives and Contaminants part B-Surveillance. This data was analysed alongside the minerals that have been used in the elaboration of the first Spanish food composition database, presented by the Health minister last August.

At the same time, the team, coordinated by professor Moreno Rojas, is presently studying the contents of metals and minerals in the most common species of wild mushrooms in Spain, with the objective of evaluating the risk of excess consumption (wild mushrooms are bio concentrators for metals) and analysing their benefits as a functional food, an aspect which is hoped to be published with the first results in a timescale of two years.