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Elemental Profiling of North-East Indian Tea (Camellia sinensis) by ICP-MS and Assessment of Associated Health Risk

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Abstract

Tea is a perennial crop that requires acidic soil for better plant growth. Due to the acidic nature of tea-growing soil, metals can be easily absorbed by tea plants from growing medium. Other anthropogenic activities are also the major contributor of element in the tea. This study provided a comprehensive database of 24 elements which were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Selected 24 elements belong to alkali metal (Li, Rb, Cs), alkaline earth metal (Be, Sr, Ba), transition metal (V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ag, Cd, Hg), basic metal (Al, Ga, Sn, Tl, Pb), metalloid (As), non-metal (Se), and actinide (U). Total 321 drier mouth samples were collected during 2020–2021 from eight different regions (Darjeeling, Terai, Dooars, North Bank, Upper Assam, South Bank, Cachar, and Tripura) of north-east India. No inorganic mercury as well as uranium was detected in any tested tea samples. Mean concentrations of Be, As, Ga, Tl, Li, Se, Cd, Ag, Cs, V, Co, and Pb were at trace level, whereas macro-element mean concentrations were distributed in the manner of Al > Mn > Rb > Ba > Zn > Cu > Sr > Cr > Ni > Sn. Human health risk for non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic metals was also assessed for the studied elements. Hazard quotients (HQs) and hazard index (HI) values (< 1) for non-carcinogenic elements indicated no risk. The incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) values for carcinogenic elements indicated no risk for As, Cd, and Pb and medium level risk for Ni. Study concluded that north-east Indian tea would not pose any health hazard.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to National Tea Research Foundation, India, for the financial assistance of this work. The authors are also grateful to the Director and Secretary, Tea Research Association, for providing the required facilities as well as constant support for the work. The authors also acknowledge the contribution of learned reviewers whose suggestions greatly improve the overall quality of the manuscript. 

Funding

This work was supported by National Tea Research Foundation (NTRF), India (Project No: NTRF: 212/2020).

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  1. TLabs, Tea Research Association, Kolkata, 700 016, West Bengal, India

    Bappaditya Kanrar, Sangeeta Kundu & Pathik Khan

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Contributions

Bappaditya Kanrar: Conceptualization, project administration, sampling, methodology, data curation, resource, supervision, writing—original draft, review, and editing.

Sangeeta Kundu: Investigation, data curation, methodology, validation, sampling, review of the draft.

Pathik Khan: Data curation, methodology, sampling.

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Correspondence to Bappaditya Kanrar.

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Kanrar, B., Kundu, S. & Khan, P. Elemental Profiling of North-East Indian Tea (Camellia sinensis) by ICP-MS and Assessment of Associated Health Risk. Biol Trace Elem Res 201, 4114–4132 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-022-03457-3

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