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Distribution Characteristics of Nutritional Elements and Combined Health Risk of Heavy Metals in Medicinal Tea from Genuine Producing Area of China

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Abstract

The development of the medicinal tea (MT) system has promoted the health awareness in the whole world, and the nutritional elements are also an important resource of health care delivery except for the medicinal components. Among various medicinal teas, Astragalus membranaceus (AM), Zingiberaceae rhizome (ZR), and Lonicera japonica (LJ) were the most popular ingredients in China. However, except for the nutrition value, MT was inevitably contaminated with heavy metals due to the special planting environment and processing system. This study was aimed to investigate the distribution characteristics of nutrition elements and combined health risk of heavy metals in MT sample, referring to the maximum residue limit (MRL), estimated daily intake (EDI), total target hazard quotients (TTHQs), and lifetime cancer risk (LCR). Furthermore, the bioaccessibility of gastrointestinal phase and bioavailability of human colon adeno carcinoma cell line were selected for elaborating the exact damage degree to human digestive system. The results showed that, the nutritional elements of Na, Se, K, Ca, and Mn were very rich in MT, but a total of 50% of MT were contaminated by Cr, Hg, and Cd in raw material. Although the cumulative lifetime cancer risk can be accepted under the bioaccessibility (26.62–99.27%), the heavy metals of Cr, As, Hg, and Fe in AM and LJ posed a slight threaten of non-carcinogenic risk to consumers. This study will give an exactly assessment of multiple elements in digestive system, thus further to predict the potential health risk under the consumption of MT products.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81903797) and the CAMS Innovation Fund for Medical Science (CIFMS) (No. 2021–1-I2M-031, 2021-I2M-1–071).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Pharmacy, Changzhou University, Changzhou, Jiangsu, 213164, People’s Republic of China

    Ming Sui & Shumin Ding

  2. Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substances and Resources Utilization of Chinese Herbal Medicine, Ministry of Education, Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100193, People’s Republic of China

    Ming Sui, Dandan Kong, Haonan Ruan, Xinqi Sun, Wei Gu, Mengyue Guo & Meihua Yang

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  1. Ming Sui
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  2. Dandan Kong
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  4. Xinqi Sun
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  5. Wei Gu
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  6. Mengyue Guo
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Contributions

Dandan Kong and Meihua Yang: funding acquisition, conceptualization, methodology, data curation, and paper writing; Ming Sui, Haonan Ruan, Xinqi Sun, Wei Gu, and Mengyue Guo: investigation, methodology, and paper writing; Shumin Ding: funding acquisition, project administration, resources, and supervision.

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Correspondence to Dandan Kong, Shumin Ding or Meihua Yang.

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Sui, M., Kong, D., Ruan, H. et al. Distribution Characteristics of Nutritional Elements and Combined Health Risk of Heavy Metals in Medicinal Tea from Genuine Producing Area of China. Biol Trace Elem Res 201, 984–994 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-022-03173-y

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