Heavy metals occurrence in Italian food supplements

Overview

Brizio and colleagues measured arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), and mercury (Hg) in twelve food supplements seized from a Piedmont shop by Italian food-adulteration authorities. Six products were single-herbal preparations and six were mixed herbal products sold as tablets or a bulk mix. The study is routeable as herbal/botanical supplement occurrence evidence, but it is a small enforcement-style sample set rather than a market-representative survey. Arsenic and mercury are reported as total elements only; the paper does not report inorganic arsenic or methylmercury.

Key numbers

Table 1 reports heavy metal content in single herbal samples (N=6):

Table 2 reports heavy metal content in mixed herbal samples (N=6):

Additional source-reported values:

• All analyzed samples had Hg concentration under the LOQ.
• The source states that one food supplement exceeded the European maximum level for lead of 3,00 mg/kg, with Pb 3,92 mg/Kg.
• The same sample had the highest Cr concentration, 14,01 mg/Kg.
• The abstract states that chromium warning levels over 3,00 mg/Kg were detected in three samples.
• LOQs were 0,01 mg/Kg for As and Cr, 0,02 mg/Kg for Cd and Pb, and 0,03 mg/Kg for Hg.
• Results below LOQ were substituted as one half of the LOQ before summary statistics.

Methods (brief)

Six single-herbal samples and six mixed herbal products were analyzed. Hg was measured directly by thermal decomposition amalgamation atomic absorption spectrophotometry (TDA-AAS) without sample preparation. As, Cd, Cr, and Pb were measured by ICP-MS after microwave digestion of weighed samples in Teflon vessels with concentrated nitric acid, 30% v/v hydrogen peroxide, and concentrated hydrofluoric acid. Calibration curves were prepared on the day of analysis. The paper reports total As and total Hg only, not arsenic or mercury species.

Implications

This source contributes Italy-market botanical supplement occurrence evidence for Pb, Cd, total As, total Hg, and total Cr. The mixed-herbal products had higher reported Pb and Cr maxima than the single-herbal products, but the authors could not assign the contamination origin to a specific botanical component. The source is useful for supplement-routing and enforcement-context evidence, especially for lead and chromium in herbal tablets and powders; it should not be used as inorganic arsenic (iAs), methylmercury (MeHg), or hexavalent chromium (Cr-VI) evidence.

Related evidence

• Herbal botanicals
• Herbs And Spices
• Ingredient class — botanicals/herbs/traditional formulas
• Oral solids: tablets/caplets
• Oral solids: powders (bulk tubs, sachets, stick packs)
• Arsenic, Total
• Cadmium
• Chromium
• Lead
• Mercury, Total

Update history

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