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Exposure Assessment of Fluoride Intake Through Commercially Available Black Tea (Camellia sinensis L.) from Areas with High Incidences of Chronic Kidney Disease with Undetermined Origin (CKDu) in Sri Lanka

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Abstract

Fluoride is a beneficial trace element for human health as its deficiency and excess levels can cause detrimental health effects. In Sri Lanka, dry zone regions can have excessive levels of fluoride in drinking water and can cause dental and skeletal fluorosis. In addition to drinking water, traditional habits of tea consumption can cause an additional intake of fluoride in the population. A total number of 39 locally blended black tea samples were collected from a village where chronic kidney disease with undetermined origin (CKDu) is prevalent. In addition, unblended tea samples were obtained from tea-producing factories. The fluoride contents in infusions of 2% weight per volume (w/v) were measured using calibrated ion-selective fluoride electrodes. The mean fluoride content was 2.68±1.03 mg/L in loose tea, 1.87±0.57mg/L in packed tea samples, and 1.14±0.55 mg/L in unblended tea. Repeated brewing of the same tea leaves showed that over 50% of fluoride leached into the solution in the first infusion. An estimate of the daily total average fluoride intake via tea consumption per person is 2.68 mg per day. With groundwater in many dry zone regions in Sri Lanka showing high fluoride levels that exceed 0.5 mg/L, the additional daily intake can rapidly exceed recommended thresholds of 2 mg/day. This can add to adverse health impacts that might also relate to CKDu.

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Funding

This research was funded by a National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant RPHS/2016/CKDu/06 and German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (Grant Number 01DP17042).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

    Rohana Chandrajith

  2. Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

    Sachini Bhagya & Swarna Wimalasiri

  3. Instrument Centre, Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka

    Saranga Diyabalanage

  4. Ecosphere Resilience Research Center, Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka

    Saranga Diyabalanage

  5. Plant Breeding Division, Tea Research Institute of Sri Lanka, Talawakelle, Sri Lanka

    Mahasen A.B. Ranatunga

  6. Department of Geography and Geosciences, GeoZentrum Nordbayern, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), Schlossgarten 5, 91054, Erlangen, Germany

    Johannes A. C. Barth

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Contributions

RC—conceptualization, data interpretation, project supervision, funding acquisition, writing, designed the final version of the manuscript; SB—data curation, sample collection, and laboratory analyses; SD—data analyses, visualization, draft preparation; SW—conceptualization, preliminary data interpretation, project supervision; MR—sample collection and data curation; JACB—project supervision, funding acquisition, writing, reviewing and editing.

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Correspondence to Rohana Chandrajith.

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Chandrajith, R., Bhagya, S., Diyabalanage, S. et al. Exposure Assessment of Fluoride Intake Through Commercially Available Black Tea (Camellia sinensis L.) from Areas with High Incidences of Chronic Kidney Disease with Undetermined Origin (CKDu) in Sri Lanka. Biol Trace Elem Res 200, 526–534 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-021-02694-2

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