Academic Administration Department, Universidad Nacional Jorge Basadre Grohmann, Avenida Miraflores s/n, Tacna, Peru.
Environ Monit Assess. 2022 Jun 28;194(8):534. doi: 10.1007/s10661-022-10232-3.
The concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, and lead in infusion tea bags of Camellia sinensis (tea), Pimpinella anisum (anise), Matricaria recutita (chamomile), Peumus boldus (boldo), and Cymbopogon citratus (lemongrass) were determined by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy (GFAAS) for four commercial brands sold in Tacna, Peru, to compare these concentrations with international standards. The moderate level of arsenic obtained for C. sinensis (0.294 mg kg) exceeded the Codex Alimentarius standard for three of the four analyzed brands, while the level of arsenic in P. boldus (0.220 mg kg) exceeded the same standard and the Mercado Común del Sur (MERCOSUR) parameters for only one brand. The moderate level of cadmium outlined in the Codex Alimentarius and by the World Health Organization (WHO) was exceeded by two infusion tea bag brands of M. recutita (0.210 mg kg) and one brand of C. citratus (0.134 mg kg). Finally, based on the MERCOSUR parameters, moderate levels of lead were exceeded by only one brand of C. citratus (0.535 mg kg). To evaluate possible health risks, we also calculated the hazard index (HI) of the heavy metals in the target herbal tea bags. The values obtained were less than 1, showing negligible noncarcinogenic health risks for consumers. Despite this information and because of the elevated concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, and lead obtained in some of our results, we suggest more detailed studies to obtain more information about the potential toxicity of these products to humans.
采用石墨炉原子吸收光谱法（GFAAS）测定了秘鲁塔克纳市销售的四种商业品牌的绿茶袋、茴芹茶、洋甘菊茶、狭叶松果菊茶和柠檬香茅茶中砷、镉和铅的浓度，将这些浓度与国际标准进行了比较。所测绿茶中的砷含量为 0.294mg/kg，属于中等水平，其中三种品牌超过了食品法典委员会（Codex Alimentarius）的标准，而狭叶松果菊中的砷含量为 0.220mg/kg，仅有一种品牌超过了该标准和南方共同市场（MERCOSUR）的参数。两种洋甘菊茶包（0.210mg/kg）和一种柠檬香茅茶（0.134mg/kg）的镉含量符合食品法典委员会和世界卫生组织（WHO）规定的中等水平。基于 MERCOSUR 参数，仅有一种柠檬香茅茶（0.535mg/kg）的铅含量超过了标准。为了评估潜在的健康风险，我们还计算了目标草药茶包中重金属的危害指数（HI）。所得到的数值均小于 1，表明消费者不存在非致癌健康风险。尽管有这些信息，但由于我们的一些研究结果中砷、镉和铅的浓度较高，我们建议进行更详细的研究，以获取更多关于这些产品对人类潜在毒性的信息。
