Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Assessment of lead and cadmium in fifty-four Indian herbal medicine: tribal and marketed varieties

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Environmental Science and Pollution Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess the toxic metal content in herbal medicines being used by Indian people. Trace elements, lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd), in fifty-four herbal medicines (marketed and tribal varieties) of India were estimated, and the potential health risks were characterized by estimating the tolerable daily intake (TDI) and the total hazard quotient (THQ) associated with their consumption. A total of 12% of the marketed varieties had Pb above WHO permissible limits of 10 mg Pb/kg. In tribal varieties, none of the samples exceeded this limit. In contrast, all the marketed varieties and 17% of the tribal varieties exceeded WHO limit of 0.3 mg Cd/kg. Consumption of ~ 0.01 kg of herbal medicine per day contributed almost 20–28% of TDI of Pb and Cd for marketed varieties and < 10% for tribal varieties. Although the consumption of the Indian herbal medicine, especially the tribal varieties, posed no immediate concern as the average THQ was less than 1, 24% of the marketed varieties had a higher metal burden and could pose threat on long-term use. Our findings advocate the use of tribal medicines for therapeutic purposes owing to a relatively lesser metal burden than the marketed varieties. However, for the marketed varieties, appropriate standardization in terms of effective quality control and consistency is needed to ensure the health of the consumers.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adhikari PP, Talukdar S, Borah A (2018) Ethnomedicobotanical study of indigenous knowledge on medicinal plants used for the treatment of reproductive problems in Nalbari district, Assam, India. J Ethnopharmacol 210:386–407

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Araujo J, Beelen AP, Lewis LD et al (2004) Lead poisoning associated with Ayurvedic medications – five states 2000-2003. Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 53:582–584

    Google Scholar 

  • Asagba SO, Eriyamremu GE, Igberaese ME (2008) Bioaccumulation of cadmium and its biochemical effect on selected tissues of the catfish (Clarias gariepinus). Fish Physiol Biochem 34:61–69

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • ATSDR (2012) Toxicological profile for cadmium. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Public Health Service, US Department of Health and Human Services, Atlanta, GA, USA

  • Baye H, Hymete A (2010) Lead and cadmium accumulation in medicinal plants collected from environmentally different sites. B Environ Contam Tox 84:197–201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bortey-Sam N, Nakayama SM, Ikenaka Y, Akoto O, Baidoo E, Yohannes YB, Mizukawa H, Ishizuka M (2015) Human health risks from metals and metalloid via consumption of food animals near gold mines in Tarkwa, Ghana: estimation of the daily intakes and target hazard quotients (THQs). Ecotoxicol Environ Saf 111:160–167

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Caldas ED, Machado LL (2004) Cadmium, mercury and lead in medicinal herbs in Brazil. Food Chem Toxicol 42:599–603

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chien LC, Yeh CY, Lee HC, Chao HJ, Shieh MJ, Han BC (2006) Effect of the mother's consumption of traditional Chinese herbs on estimated infant daily intake of lead from breast milk. Sci Total Environ 354:120–126

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Corder GW, Foreman DI (2011) Nonparametric statistics for non-statisticians. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, pp 99–105

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Dargan PI, Gawarammana IB, Archer JR, House IM, Shaw D, Wood D (2008) Heavy metal poisoning from Ayurvedic traditional medicines: an emerging problem? Int J Environ Heal 2:463–474

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dey S, Saxena A, Dan A, Swarup D (2009) Indian medicinal herb: a source of lead and cadmium for humans and animals. Arch Environ Occup H 64:164–167

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Eaton AD, Clesceri LS, Greenberg AE (1995) Standard methods of the examination of water and wastewater, Nineteenthth edn. APHA, Washington DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Ernst E (2002) Heavy metals in traditional Indian remedies. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 57:891–896

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • FAO/WHO (1993) Evaluation of certain food additives and contaminants. 41st Report of Joint FAO/WHO Committee on Food Additives, Geneva

  • FAO/WHO (2003) Joint FAO/WHO expert committee on food additives (June 2003) 61st meeting, Rome, 10–19

  • FDA (2002) Dietary supplements: warnings and safety information. College Park, MD.: FDA Centre for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition

  • Garvey GJ, Hahn G, Lee RV, Harbison RD (2001) Heavy metal hazards of Asian traditional remedies. Int J Environ Health Res 11:63–71

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Graham RE, Ahn AC, Davis RB, O'Connor BB, Eisenberg DM, Phillips RS (2005) Use of complementary and alternative medical therapies among racial and ethnic minority adults: results from the 2002 National Health Interview Survey. J Natl Med Assoc 97:535–545

    Google Scholar 

  • Gupta S, Pandotra P, Gupta AP, Dhar JK, Sharma G, Ram G, Husain MK, Bedi YS (2010) Volatile (As and Hg) and non-volatile (Pb and Cd) toxic heavy metals analysis in rhizome of Zingiber officinale collected from different locations of North Western Himalayas by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Food Chem Toxicol 48:2966–2971

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • He PP, Lv XZ, Wang GY (2004) Effects of se and Zn supplementation on the antagonism against Pb and Cd in vegetables. Environ Int 30:167–172

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Isaac RA, Kerber JD (1971) Atomic absorption and flame photometry: techniques and uses in soil and plant and water analysis. In: Walsh LM (ed) Instrumental methods for analysis of soils and plant tissue. Soil Science Society of America, Madison, p 125

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamath SU, Pemiah B, Sekar RK, Krishnaswamy S, Sethuraman S, Krishnan UM (2012) Mercury-based traditional herbo-metallic preparations: a toxicological perspective. Arch Toxicol 86:831–838

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Khan IA, Allgood J, Walker LA, Abourashed EA, Schlenk D, Benson WH (2001) Determination of heavy metals and pesticides in ginseng products. J AOAC Int 84:936–939

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Koh HL, Woo SO (2000) Chinese proprietary medicine in Singapore: regulatory control of toxic heavy metals and undeclared drugs. Drug Saf 23:351–362

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Krejpcio Z, Krol E, Sionkowski S (2007) Evaluation of heavy metals contents in spices and herbs available on the Polish market. Pol J Environ Stud 16:97–100

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kurt-Karakus PB (2012) Determination of heavy metals in indoor dust from Istanbul, Turkey: estimation of the health risk. Environ Int 50:47–55

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lu Y, Yang D, Song X, Wang S, Song M, Hang T (2017) Bioaccessibility and health risk assessment of mercury in cinnabar containing traditional Chinese medicines. J Trace Elem Med Biol 44:17–25

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lynch E, Braithwaite R (2005) A review of the clinical and toxicological aspects of traditional (herbal) medicines adulterated with heavy metals. Expert Opin Drug Saf 4:769–778

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Ayush, Government of India (2017) Annu Rep 2017

  • Nookabkaew S, Rangkadilok N, Satayavivad J (2006) Determination of trace elements in herbal tea products and their infusions consumed in Thailand. J Agric Food Chem 54:6939–6944

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • NSF International (2008) NSF International Standard/American National Standard #173 for dietary supplements. Ann Arbor, United States: NSF International

  • Pizzol M, Thomsen M, Andersen MS (2010) Long-term human exposure to lead from different media and intake pathways. Sci Total Environ 408:5478–5488

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rai V, Kakkar P, Khatoon S, Rawat AKS, Mehrotra S (2001) Heavy metal accumulation in some herbal drugs. Pharm Biol 39:384–387

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Reuters Editorial News (2018) Future Trend of Herbal Medicine Market 2018 Scope at a CAGR of ~ 7.2% during 2017 to 2023-Increasing Demand for Safe Therapies. 12 April, 2018 (Accessed on 29 January, 2019, att)

  • Roberts JR, Reigart JR, Ebeling M, Hulsey TC (2001) Time required for blood lead levels to decline in non-chelated children. J Toxicol Clin Toxicol 39:153–160

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Saper RB, Kales SN, Paquin J, Burns MJ, Eisenberg DM, Davis RB, Phillips RS (2004) Heavy metal content of Ayurvedic herbal medicine products. JAMA 292:2868–2873

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Saper RB, Phillips RS, Sehgal A, Khouri N, Davis RB, Paquin J, Thuppil V, Kales SN (2008) Lead, mercury, and arsenic in US- and Indian-manufactured Ayurvedic medicines sold via the internet. JAMA 300:915–923

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stanifer JW, Kilonzo K, Wang D, Su G, Mao W, Zhang L, Zhang L, Nayak-Rao S, Miranda JJ (2017) Traditional medicines and kidney disease in low-and middle-income countries: opportunities and challenges. Semin Nephrol 37:245–259

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tokalıoğlu Ş (2012) Determination of trace elements in commonly consumed medicinal herbs by ICP-MS and multivariate analysis. Food Chem 134:2504–2508

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • US EPA (1989) Cadmium; CASRN 7440-43-9. IRIS Chemical Assessment Summary, Washington, DC

  • US EPA (1999) Guidance for performing aggregate exposure and risk assessments. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Pesticide Programs, Washington DC

  • Van der Oost R, Beyer J, Vermeulen NP (2003) Fish bioaccumulation and biomarkers in environmental risk assessment: a review. Environ Toxicol Pharmacol 13:57–149

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • WHO (2003) Guidelines on good agricultural and collection practices (GACP) for medicinal plants. Geneva

  • WHO (2005) National policy on traditional medicine and regulations of herbal medicines. Geneva

  • WHO (2007) WHO guidelines for assessing quality of herbal medicines with reference to contaminants and residues, Geneva

  • WHO (2011) WHO food additive series: 64 – safety evaluation of certain food additives and contaminants. Prepared by the seventy-third meeting of JECFA. Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives

  • Wu Q, Lu YF, Shi JZ, Liang SX, Shi JS, Liu J (2011) Chemical form of metals in traditional medicines underlines potential toxicity in cell cultures. J Ethnopharmacol 134:839–843

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang J, Wider B, Shang H, Li X, Ernst E (2012) Quality of herbal medicines: challenges and solutions. Complement Ther Med 20:100–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Aquatic Toxicology and Remediation Laboratory, Department of Life Science and Bioinformatics, Assam University, Silchar, India

    Arindam Nath, Debika Chakraborty & Suchismita Das

Authors
  1. Arindam Nath
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Debika Chakraborty
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Suchismita Das
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Suchismita Das.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Nath, A., Chakraborty, D. & Das, S. Assessment of lead and cadmium in fifty-four Indian herbal medicine: tribal and marketed varieties. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 4127–4136 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-07091-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-07091-w

Keywords

Search

Navigation