Dietary exposure of Hong Kong adults to nitrate and nitrite from vegetable intake.

The aim of this study was to assess the dietary exposure of adults in Hong Kong to nitrate and nitrite from vegetables. If all vegetables consumed were raw, the dietary exposure to nitrate for average consumers was estimated to be 4.4 mg kg(-1) body weight (bw) day(-1) and, for high consumers, was estimated to be 13 mg kg(-1) bw day(-1), which is about 120 and 350% of acceptable daily intake (ADI), respectively. If all vegetables consumed were cooked, the dietary exposure to nitrate from vegetables for the average adult consumer was estimated to be 3.5 mg kg(-1) bw day(-1) and, for high consumer, was estimated to be 10 mg kg(-1) bw day(-1), which is about 95 and 270% of ADI, respectively. On the other hand, the dietary exposure to nitrite from vegetables for average and high consumers were well below the ADI.