Arsenic, cadmium and lead in medicinal herbs and their fractionation

Arpadjan, Sonja; Celik, Guler; Taşkesen, S.; Güçer, Şeref

doi:10.1016/j.fct.2008.05.027

Cited by 152 publications

(102 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The harmful effect of herbal remedies can originate from the presence of heavy metals in the raw part of the plant. Thus, numerous studies have indicated that the presence of heavy metals in herbal drugs, as well as the inadequate use of herbal remedies, represents a potential danger to people's health, due to their cumulative-toxic effect [2][3][4][5]. Lead as a highly toxic heavy metal, with a cumulative effect, is one of the most common contaminants of found in plants [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The content of lead in herbal drugs and tea samples

Kaličanin

Velimirović

2013

Open Life Sciences

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Heavy metals are highly toxic to living organisms even in low concentrations owing to their cumulative effect. In this study the overall content of lead in herbal drugs was determined, as well as the content of lead which was released from tested drugs during the preparation of tea drinks. To determine the content of toxic lead, the highly sensitive microanalytical technique of the potentiometric stripping analysis (PSA) with oxygen as the oxidant was used. The lowest overall content of lead was detected for chamomile and ranged from 0.73 to 0.77 µg/g, while the greatest content of lead was determined in the samples of the frangula bark, and yielded approximately 3 µg/g. The lead content in the prepared tea drinks ranged from 0.26 to 1.23 µg/g and depended on the manner in which tea drink was prepared. All of the herbal drugs in this study contain a certain amount of the toxic metal lead, but at the same time, the contents were below the levels prescribed for this metal. The content of lead released from the herbal drug into the tea drink was three to five times lower than those of the overall content of this metal.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The content of lead in herbal drugs and tea samples

Kaličanin

Velimirović

2013

Open Life Sciences

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“…There are no regulations for limits of Pb for particular medicinal herbs, because the content of this metal vary with respect to plant species, geographic region, agronomic treatment etc (7).Many authors in their studies have determined the content of metals in medicinal herbs (21)(22)(23). The content of lead in similar kinds of medicinal herbs, detected in the study of Arpadjan and al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The use of medical plants in both crude and prepared forms has greatly increased, and although herbal remedies are often perceived as being natural and therefore safe, they are not free from adverse effects (1). Various reports have discussed the potential health implications of trace metals in medicinal herbs, since the herbal bush is known to accumulate them (2,3). One of the major reasons to monitor the levels of toxic metals in medicinal plants is that the contamination of the general environment has increased.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioavailability of heavy metals in the soil from different locations of medicinal herbs

Kaličanin¹,

Velimirović²,

Arsić³

et al. 2014

Acta Facultatis Medicae Naissensis

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ACTA FACULTATIS MEDICAE NAISSENSISUDC: 631.4:633.88 S U M M A R YMedicinal herbs and their mixtures, which are widely used for prevention and treatment of some disease, can also present health risks due to the presence of toxic metals such as Pb and Cd. The application of different agrotechnical practices during plant growing season, as well as the process of circulation of substances in nature, may be the cause of plant contamination.The aim of this study was to determine the content of lead, cadmium and copper from soil which are bioavailable for absorption by plant, as well as the total content of these metals in some medicinal herbs that were cultivated in two different locations. The presence of these metals in the samples was detected using highly sensitive microanalytical technique potentiometric stripping analysis (PSA).The mean value of lead total content in the analyzed samples of medicinal herbs Chamimillae flos, Urticae folium, Menthae folium, Altheae radix and Basilici herba, which were grown at the sites near the industrial zone, was about 1.55 μg/g, 1.82 μg/g, 1.90 μg/g, 1.99 μg/g and 2.74 μg/g, respectively. Contrary to this, the total content of this toxic metal in the analyzed plant samples grown on rural areas was detected only on some sites.Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that medicinal herbs contained a certain amount of lead and that its content varied depending on the location at which the plant species were grown as well as on plant affinity to certain metal. Cadmium and copper were not detected in the tested plant material.

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“…In general, aromatic plants cannot be considered as phytoextractors, not only because most of the accumulated heavy metals are stored in their roots, but also because their biomass is low. These results clearly exclude aromatic plants grown on heavy metal contaminated fields (at least the plants we examined), from either phytoremediation processes, or from consumption as food supplements or herbs, or for herbal teas, as some of their heavy metal content is expected to be extracted to the concoction (Schilcher and Peters 1990;Chizzola et al 2008;Arpadjan et al 2008;Affholder et al 2013). However, careful analysis of the extracted essential oils from plants grown at all the conditions tested showed that neither the quality and the content of the oils were altered significantly, nor detectable amounts of heavy metals were found in these oils.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultivation of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in Heavy Metal-Contaminated Soils

2016

Global NEST Journal

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CULTIVATION OF MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC PLANTS IN HEAVY METAL-CONTAMINATED SOILSLYDAKIS-SIMANTIRIS N. ABSTRACTThe growing number of polluted land areas makes the question of rehabilitation and safe/effective use of these areas increasingly imperative. For land polluted by heavy metals, the possibility of transferring the toxic pollutants to humans through the food chain further increases the importance of the safe management of polluted lands. We examined the possibility of using heavy metal-polluted areas for growing specific aromatic plants, which can be used either as food herbs/infusions, or to produce high value products. In a pot experiment, chamomile, sage and thyme plants were exposed to a range of concentrations of Cd, Pb, and Ni in the soil. Toxic metal levels were determined in the roots, leaves and flowers (for chamomile) of the plants. All three plants accumulated relatively high amounts of metals in their roots, whereas the aboveground parts exhibited lower accumulation capacity. Regardless the levels of metal accumulation, the quality of essential oils from chamomile, sage, and thyme was not affected and in all cases the extracted essential oils were free of heavy metals. Our results suggest that the aromatic plants under study cannot be consumed either as food additives or as infusions. However, under strict control of the cultivations, heavy metal-contaminated areas can be used for the production of essential oils from aromatic plants.

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Arsenic, cadmium and lead in medicinal herbs and their fractionation

Cited by 152 publications

References 20 publications

The content of lead in herbal drugs and tea samples

The content of lead in herbal drugs and tea samples

Bioavailability of heavy metals in the soil from different locations of medicinal herbs

Cultivation of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in Heavy Metal-Contaminated Soils

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