Dietary risk assessment of fluoride, lead, chromium, and cadmium througconsumption of tieguanyin tea and white tea

Abstract

Food and beverage consumption is the most possible route of human exposure to undesirable elements. Tieguanyin tea and white tea are widely-consumed beverage, which may be contaminated by fluoride (F), lead (Pb), chromium (Cr), and cadmium (Cd). For this study, the contamination levels and dietary exposure risks of these elements were studied from 72 Tieguanyin tea samples and 40 white tea samples from Fujian Province, China. The average concentrations of these elements decreased in order from F, Pb, Cr to Cd in Tieguanyin tea, while white tea in order from F, Cr, Pb to Cd. Metal-to-metal correlation indicated a weak positive correlation between Pb/Cd pairs (Tieguanyin tea) and Pb/Cr pairs (white tea). A weak negative correlation pair was found for Cr/Cd in Tieguanyin tea. The hazard index levels were below one, suggesting that there was no significant non-carcinogenic health risk to tea drinking consumers under the current dietary intake. The total cancer risk values of Pb, Cd, and Cr via the consumption of Tieguanyin tea and white tea were 4.01×10-5 and 7.64×10-6, fell into the acceptable range of 10-6~10-4. It demonstrated that the cancer risk for consumers via drinking Tieguanyin tea and white tea was acceptable.