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Comparison of Essential and Toxic Metals Levels in some Herbal Teas: a Systematic Review

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Abstract

In the present study, we reviewed the literature as a systematic review to investigate the concentration of some metals (essential, none essential, and toxic metals) in herbal teas and their health risks. The search extended the literature from the database, including Google Scholar, PubMed, and Scopus, using the terms “herbal teas” combined with “heavy metals, essential metals, thyme, rosemary, chamomile, and tea” also with “iron, zinc, aluminum, chromium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, arsenic, cadmium, and lead” in titles and abstracts. The search was limited to articles published from 2012 to 2023 years. Initially, 212 articles were found; by detailed consideration, only 49 papers fit the inclusion criteria and were selected for further study. The mean of metal concentration, standard deviation, data distribution, and sample size were applied to generate data from the articles. The results indicated that all commonly consumed herbal teas included metals. None of them meet the requirements of the WHO requirements. However, more than 70% of their health risks are acceptable. The risks of arsenic and lead in tea and cadmium in black tea were considerably higher than in others. According to the review results, it is important to prevent heavy metal contamination of herbal teas by modifying cultivation patterns and also to prevent to consumption of low-quality herbal teas.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center for Food Hygiene and Safety, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, I.R., Iran

    Mohammad Hossein Salmani, Mahsa Gholami, Mohammad Javad Ranjbar & Farnaz Mokhberi

  2. Environmental Science and Technology Research Center, School of Public Health, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, I.R., Iran

    Mohammad Hossein Salmani

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  1. Mohammad Hossein Salmani
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  2. Mahsa Gholami
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  3. Mohammad Javad Ranjbar
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  4. Farnaz Mokhberi
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MHS contributed to the conception and design of the study. MJR and FM performed searching articles. MHS and MG wrote the main manuscript text. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Mohammad Hossein Salmani.

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Salmani, M.H., Gholami, M., Ranjbar, M.J. et al. Comparison of Essential and Toxic Metals Levels in some Herbal Teas: a Systematic Review. Biol Trace Elem Res 202, 615–623 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-023-03698-w

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