Cd: cadmium; Cr: chromium; Ni: nickel; Zn: zinc. HQ and HI ≥ 1 indicate a potential health risk; HQ and HI < 1 indicate no risk.
Declarations
Disclaimer
Declaration of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the manuscript preparation process: During the preparation of this work, authors used CHATGPT in order to improve grammatical expression and fluency. After using this tool/service, the authors reviewed and edited the content as needed and take full responsibility for the content of the published article.
Acknowledgments
The authors appreciate the contribution of laboratory staff of the Department of Biochemistry, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Sokoto State, Nigeria, for the technical assistance provided in the course of this study. The author also acknowledges Al-Qalam University, Katsina, Katsina State, Nigeria, and the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) for the support provided.
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest related to this paper.
Ethical approval
The authors declare that ethical and professional approval for the study was granted by the Sokoto Health Research Ethics Committee, Ministry of Health Sokoto, Sokoto State, Nigeria bearing the ethical approval number SKHREC/086/2025.
Consent to participate
All adult participants have freely given consent to participate in the sensory and groundnut intake assessment of consumers. There were no children below the age of 18 years included in the sensory evaluation. However, for the groundnut intake assessment of consumers, consent to engage the children were obtained from their parents or guardians. All listed participants were approved by the Sokoto Health Research Ethics Committee, Ministry of Health, Sokoto, Sokoto State, Nigeria. Then the participants spontaneously participated in the sensory evaluation as well as the groundnut intake assessment.
Consent to publication
Not applicable.
Availability of data and materials
The raw data generated during the study can be obtained upon reasonable request from the corresponding author.
Funding
This study was funded by Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund), Nigeria, under the National- Research Fund [NRF-UDUS-2021-012]. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Open Exploration maintains a neutral stance on jurisdictional claims in published institutional affiliations and maps. All opinions expressed in this article are the personal views of the author(s) and do not represent the stance of the editorial team or the publisher.
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