Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia.
Nuclear Chemistry and Environmental Research Centre, Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, National Nuclear Research Institute, P. O. BOX LG 80, Legon, Accra, Ghana.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2021 Jan;28(2):1812-1822. doi: 10.1007/s11356-020-10607-4. Epub 2020 Aug 28.
Traditional medicine (TM) also known as folk medicine consists of medical knowledge systems that were developed over generations in various countries before the era of modern medicine. Over the last few years, there has been a shift in universal trend from modern medicine to TM because it is believed that these medicines are non-toxic to humans, have little to no side-effects, are readily available and affordable. The purpose of this study was to investigate the essential and non-essential elemental concentrations of ayurvedic medicines (AM), Ghanaian traditional medicines (GTM) and Chinese traditional medicines (CTM). The results indicate that the mean elemental concentrations in TM varied greatly. The mean concentrations of copper and mercury in AM, GTM and CTM ranged from 4 to 45 mg/kg and 0.01 to 2 mg/kg, respectively. Multivariate statistical analyses applied to recognise inter-element associations indicated that at 0.05 significant level, there was a positive correlation between elements suggesting they may have originated from the same source. The study concludes by highlighting the need for monitoring of the elemental concentrations in commonly consumed traditional medicines regularly to detect contamination in these medicines since the occurrence of metals in these medicines above or below legally permissible limits can be harmful to consumers.
传统医学（TM）也被称为民间医学，它包含了在现代医学时代之前，各国历经数代发展起来的医学知识体系。近年来，人们的观念从现代医学逐渐转向传统医学，因为人们认为这些药物对人体无毒，副作用小，而且容易获得且价格低廉。本研究旨在调查阿育吠陀药物（AM）、加纳传统药物（GTM）和中药（CTM）中的必需和非必需元素浓度。结果表明，TM 中的元素浓度差异很大。AM、GTM 和 CTM 中铜和汞的平均浓度范围分别为 4 至 45mg/kg 和 0.01 至 2mg/kg。应用于识别元素间关联的多元统计分析表明，在 0.05 的显著水平上，元素之间存在正相关关系，这表明它们可能来自同一来源。研究最后强调，需要定期监测常用传统药物中的元素浓度，以检测这些药物是否受到污染，因为这些药物中金属的含量高于或低于法定允许范围都可能对消费者造成伤害。
