Evaluation of Heavy Metals and Microbiological Contamination of Selected herbals from Palestine

Abstract

BackgroundHerbal medicine is widely used for the prevention and treatment of diseases worldwide including Palestine and may require long term usage. The level of some heavy metals and microbial contaminants in some of these medicinal plants consumed by Palestinians were studied in order to evaluate their quality.MethodologyThe level of metals including: Zinc, Cadmium, Lead and Copper were quantified by Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). Moreover, the bacterial and fungal contaminations were tested for some of the selected plants in Palestine. The procedures of microbial and elemental testing of the plants followed USP.ResultsThe result of the heavy metals testing showed that copper and cadmium were above the allowable limits in all the tested plants. Zinc metal was above the allowable limit in 78.9% of the tested samples. The microbiological results of the tested plants showed that 63.2% of the tested plants were contaminated by bacteria and 89.5% were contaminated by yeast.ConclusionsHerbal medicine used in the Palestinian markets doesn’t meet the international requirement for heavy metal and microbiological limits. Therefore, urgent action has to be taken by the responsible authorities including the Ministry of health to implement importation and registration requirements and perform regular quality checks of sold and imported herbal medicines. Pharmacists as expert professionals must take an active role in selling and advising consumers about the quality and efficacy of the sold plants.

Quality evaluation of iron-containing food supplements in the Palestinian market

“…Both iron drugs and food supplements were collected from community pharmacies, where these items are usually stored under suitable storage conditions. In our previous study on herbals, the results showed significant contamination of the tested herbals; this contamination was primarily attributed to improper storage by herbal traditional shops (Abualhasan et al, 2019).…”

“…The results showed that many of the sold brand do not comply with the set international standard which may cause health hazards. are newly established, and the rules set are still unsatisfactorily implemented (Abualhasan et al, 2019), (Palestinian Ministry of Health, 2020).…”

Assessment of Lead, Zinc and Cadmium Contamination in the Fruit of Palestinian Date Palm Cultivars Growing at Jericho Governorate

“…Another study about assessment of heavy metal contamination in roadside surface soil and vegetation from the West Bank conducted by Swaileh, et al (2004), indicate that roadside contamination with heavy metals was obvious by the significant negative correlations between concentrations of metals in soil and plant samples and distance from road edge. Previous studies had reported some high levels of heavy metals concentration in other places surrounding Jericho (Abualhasan, et al, 2019).…”

Assessment of Fungi and Mycotoxins Contaminating Antidiabetic Herbs

“…There are many herbs that studies have indicated to be effective as a treatment for diabetes, such as Ferula assafoetida, Annona squamosal, Zingiber officinale, Gymnema But it should be noted that many of the herbal mixtures used to treat diseases that are sold in local stores and markets are contaminated with many sources of danger, such as Mycotoxigenic Fungi and Mycotoxins (Abed et al, 2020 ;Ikeagwulonu et al, 2020), As well as bacteria and heavy metals (Zamir et al, 2015;Abualhasan et al, 2019). The aim of the current study is to detect the presence of fungal contamination and mycotoxins in some of selected antidiabetic herbs mixtures are widely spread among Iraqis in Diyala Governorate population.…”