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Refined assessment of heavy metal-associated health risk due to the consumption of traditional animal medicines in humans

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Abstract

Little is known about the extent of heavy metal accumulation in traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs). In this study, the levels of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), and mercury (Hg) in traditional animal medicines were monitored using inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS). Additionally, for the first time, a heavy metal risk assessment strategy was used to evaluate the potential risks of traditional animal medicines by calculating estimated daily intake (EDI), target hazard quotient (THQ), and cancer risk (CR). To obtain a refined risk assessment, the frequency of exposure to traditional animal medicines was determined from questionnaire data, and the safe factor for TCM was applied. Based on the standard levels for leech, it was found that earthworm, hive, scorpion, and leech accumulated high levels of heavy metals. The combined THQ (cTHQ) values indicated that ingestion of most traditional animal medicines would not pose a risk to the health of either male or female human beings. However, it was indicated that attention should be paid to the potential risk associated with cicada slough, earthworm, scorpion, turtle shells, and hive. Among heavy metals, As and Hg contributed to a major extent to the risk to human health. The CR assessment for Pb and As indicated that, with the exception of earthworm, the cancer risk was less than the acceptable lifetime risk for both males and females. Owing to the higher body weight, both THQ and CR were generally lower for males than for females.

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Abbreviations

TCMs:

Traditional Chinese Medicines

MeHg:

methylmercury

CR:

lifetime cancer risk

CSF:

cancer slope factor

EDI:

estimated daily intake

ICP-MS:

inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

PPRC:

Pharmacopoeia of the People’s Republic of China

THQ:

target hazard quotient

cTHQ:

combined target hazard quotient

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Funding

This study was supported by the National Major Scientific and Technological Special Project for “Significant New Drugs Development” (2014ZX09304307-002) and Project for Medicine and Medical Instruments Review and Approval System Reform (ZG2016-1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Xi’an Jiaotong University, No. 28 Xianning Xi Road, Xi’an, 710049, Shanxi, China

    Tian-Tian Zuo, Huai-Zhen He & Lang-Chong He

  2. National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, No. 2 Tiantan Xili, Dongcheng District, Beijing, 100050, China

    Tian-Tian Zuo, Yao-Lei Li, Hong-Yu Jin, Lei Sun, Fei Gao, Qi Wang & Shuang-Cheng Ma

  3. China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment, Beijing, China

    Lei Zhang

  4. College of Pharmacy, University of Rhode Island, South Kingstown, RI, 02881, USA

    Yuan-Jun Shen

Authors
  1. Tian-Tian Zuo
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  2. Yao-Lei Li
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  3. Huai-Zhen He
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  4. Hong-Yu Jin
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  5. Lei Zhang
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  8. Qi Wang
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  10. Shuang-Cheng Ma
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  11. Lang-Chong He
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Contributions

SCM and HYJ designed the study. TTZ and YLL conducted the experiments. TTZ analyzed the data. TTZ wrote the manuscript. LCH, SCM, HZH, LZ, LS, FG, QW, and YJS revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Shuang-Cheng Ma or Lang-Chong He.

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Highlights

• Little is known about the extent of heavy metal accumulation in traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) and their associated human health risks.

• The levels of heavy metals (Pb, Cd, As, and Hg) in traditional animal medicines were monitored, and the potential risks were investigated for the first time.

• To obtain a refined risk assessment, the frequency of exposure to traditional animal medicines was determined from questionnaire data, and the safe factor for TCM was applied.

• Potential risk associated with cicada slough, earthworm, scorpion, turtle shells, and hive may exist.

• The CR assessment for Pb and As indicated that, with the exception of earthworm, the cancer risk was less than the acceptable lifetime risk.

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Zuo, TT., Li, YL., He, HZ. et al. Refined assessment of heavy metal-associated health risk due to the consumption of traditional animal medicines in humans. Environ Monit Assess 191, 171 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-019-7270-1

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