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Assessment of Zinc, Lead, Chromium, and Cobalt in Commonly Consumed Herbal Medicines in Sindh, Pakistan

Biological Trace Element Research volume 199, pages 2366–2374 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

Herbal medicines are widely consumed by the people of Pakistan for the treatment of various diseases. In the current study, quantitative assessment of four heavy metals namely zinc, lead, chromium, and cobalt was carried out in forty commonly consumed herbal medicines purchased from the markets of Khairpur and Sukkur, Pakistan. The conventional wet acid digestion method was used for the dissolution of samples and the concentration of heavy metals was determined by using flame atomic absorption spectrometry. Varied concentrations of metals were observed in different herbal medicines. The levels of Zn, Pb, Cr, and Co were in the range of 7.05–87.5 ppm, 5.62–44.9 ppm, 3.16–14.1 ppm, and 5.69–9.88 ppm, respectively. The findings of our study were compared with the WHO maximum permissible limits of these metals and it was observed that most of the analyzed samples exceeded the permissible levels. Keeping in view the levels of these metals in the selected herbal medicines, the prolonged intake of these drugs might be hazardous for human beings.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, Sindh, Pakistan

    Amjad Ali Maitlo, Wahid Bux Jatoi & Amjad Hussain Soomro

  2. National Centre of Excellence in Analytical Chemistry, University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Pakistan

    Almas Fatima Memon

  3. Department of Physics, Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, Sindh, Pakistan

    Muhammad Siddique Bhayo

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  1. Amjad Ali Maitlo
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  2. Wahid Bux Jatoi
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  3. Almas Fatima Memon
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  4. Amjad Hussain Soomro
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  5. Muhammad Siddique Bhayo
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Correspondence to Almas Fatima Memon.

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Maitlo, A.A., Jatoi, W.B., Memon, A.F. et al. Assessment of Zinc, Lead, Chromium, and Cobalt in Commonly Consumed Herbal Medicines in Sindh, Pakistan. Biol Trace Elem Res 199, 2366–2374 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-020-02339-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-020-02339-w

Keywords

  • Herbal medicines
  • Heavy metals
  • Atomic absorption spectrometry
  • Toxicity