Assessing the health risks of heavy metals and seasonal minerals fluctuations in Camellia sinensis cultivars during their growth seasons

Fawad Zaman; Wajid Ali Khattak; Muhammad Ihtisham; Muhammad Ilyas; Ahmad Ali; Abbas Ali; Haroon Khan; Khalid Ali Khan; Dejiang Ni; Hua Zhao; Fu-Sheng Chen

doi:10.1016/j.fct.2024.114586

Assessing the health risks of heavy metals and seasonal minerals fluctuations in Camellia sinensis cultivars during their growth seasons

Food Chem Toxicol. 2024 May:187:114586. doi: 10.1016/j.fct.2024.114586. Epub 2024 Mar 15.

Authors

Fawad Zaman¹, Wajid Ali Khattak², Muhammad Ihtisham³, Muhammad Ilyas⁴, Ahmad Ali⁵, Abbas Ali⁶, Haroon Khan⁷, Khalid Ali Khan⁸, Dejiang Ni⁹, Hua Zhao¹⁰, Fu-Sheng Chen¹¹

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Forest Ecosystem Protection and Restoration of Poyang Lake Watershed, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, China; Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Silviculture, College of Forestry, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, China; National Key Laboratory for Germplasm Innovation and Utilization of Horticultural Crops, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China.
² School of Environment and Safety Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, China.
³ School of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Engineering, Yibin University, Yibin, Sichuan, 644000, China.
⁴ CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Yunnan, 666303, China.
⁵ National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, National Center of Rapeseed Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China.
⁶ Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Forest Ecosystem Protection and Restoration of Poyang Lake Watershed, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, China; Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Silviculture, College of Forestry, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, China.
⁷ Department of Weed Science and Botany, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan.
⁸ Applied College, Center of Bee Research and Its Products, Unit of Bee Research and Honey Production, Research Center for Advanced Materials Science (RCAMS), King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha, 61413, Saudi Arabia.
⁹ National Key Laboratory for Germplasm Innovation and Utilization of Horticultural Crops, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China.
¹⁰ National Key Laboratory for Germplasm Innovation and Utilization of Horticultural Crops, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China. Electronic address: zhaohua@mail.hzau.edu.cn.
¹¹ Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Forest Ecosystem Protection and Restoration of Poyang Lake Watershed, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, China; Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Silviculture, College of Forestry, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, China. Electronic address: chenfusheng@jxau.edu.cn.

PMID: 38493978
DOI: 10.1016/j.fct.2024.114586

Abstract

The risk assessment of heavy metals in tea is extremely imperative for the health of tea consumers. However, the effects of varietal variations and seasonal fluctuations on heavy metals and minerals in tea plants remain unclear. Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) was used to evaluate the contents of aluminum (Al), manganese (Mn), magnesium (Mg), boron (B), calcium (Ca), copper (Cu), cobalt (Co), iron (Fe), sodium (Na), zinc (Zn), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), and antimony (Sb) in the two categories of young leaves (YL) and mature leaves (ML) of tea (Camellia sinensis) cultivars throughout the growing seasons. The results showed significant variations in the contents of the investigated nutrients both among the different cultivars and growing seasons as well. Furthermore, the average concentrations of Al, Mn, Mg, B, Ca, Cu, Co, Fe, Na, Zn, As, Cd, Cr, Ni, and Sb in YL ranged, from 671.58-2209.12, 1260.58-1902.21, 2290.56-2995.36, 91.18-164.68, 821.95-5708.20, 2.55-3.80, 3.96-25.22, 37.95-202.84, 81.79-205.05, 27.10-69.67, 0.028-0.053, 0.065-0.127, 2.40-3.73, 10.57-12.64, 0.11-0.14 mg kg^-1, respectively. In ML, the concentrations were 2626.41-7834.60, 3980.82-6473.64, 3335.38-4537.48, 327.33-501.70, 9619.89-13153.68, 4.23-8.18, 17.23-34.20, 329.39-567.19, 145.36-248.69, 40.50-81.42, 0.089-0.169, 0.23-0.27, 5.24-7.89, 18.51-23.97, 0.15-0.19 mg kg^-1, respectively. The contents of all analyzed nutrients were found to be higher in ML than in YL. Target hazard quotients (THQ) of As, Cd, Cr, Ni, and Sb, as well as the hazard index (HI), were all less than one, suggesting no risk to human health via tea consumption. This research might provide the groundwork for essential minerals recommendations, as well as a better understanding and management of heavy metal risks in tea.

Keywords: Camellia sinensis; Health risk evaluation; Heavy metals; Hyperaccumulation; Minerals.

MeSH terms

Aluminum / analysis
Arsenic* / analysis
Cadmium / analysis
Camellia sinensis*
Chromium / analysis
Environmental Monitoring / methods
Humans
Manganese / analysis
Metals, Heavy* / analysis
Metals, Heavy* / toxicity
Minerals
Nickel / analysis
Risk Assessment
Seasons
Tea / chemistry
Zinc / analysis

Substances

Cadmium
Metals, Heavy
Arsenic
Minerals
Chromium
Nickel
Manganese
Aluminum
Zinc
Tea