Overview
Shchukin et al. measured elemental impurities in Laminaria brown-algae herbal medicinal products purchased from Moscow pharmacies, supplementing the authors’ measurements with literature rows for global Laminariales and Fucales. The routeable occurrence evidence from this source is the six rows marked as the authors’ own experimental data in Tables 2 and 3. Arsenic is reported only as total arsenic, mercury only as total mercury, and chromium only as total chromium.
Key numbers
Table 2 reports regulated elemental toxicants in mg/kg for the six author-measured Laminaria samples. The Methods section states that samples were dried to constant mass before digestion, so these are dry-product values:
| Sample | Origin / collection time | Matrix | tAs | Cd | tHg | Pb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| III | China / 2015 | Laminaria mixture | 33,47 mg/kg | 0,21 mg/kg | < 0,002 mg/kg | 0,83 mg/kg |
| IV | China / 2015 | Laminaria mixture | 44,66 mg/kg | 0,26 mg/kg | < 0,002 mg/kg | 0,24 mg/kg |
| V | China | Laminaria mixture | 41,99 mg/kg | 0,23 mg/kg | < 0,002 mg/kg | 0,55 mg/kg |
| VI | China | Laminaria mixture | 36,59 mg/kg | 0,63 mg/kg | < 0,002 mg/kg | 0,65 mg/kg |
| I | Arkhangelsk / 2016 | Laminaria mixture | 43,97 mg/kg | 0,10 mg/kg | < 0,002 mg/kg | 0,53 mg/kg |
| II | Arkhangelsk / 2014 | Laminaria mixture | 53,97 mg/kg | 0,10 mg/kg | < 0,002 mg/kg | 0,61 mg/kg |
Table 3 reports additional elements in mg/kg for the same six author-measured Laminaria samples:
| Sample | Origin / collection time | Al | Co | Cr | Cu | Fe | Mn | Ni | Sr | Zn |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| III | China / 2015 | 1792,1 | 0,58 | 4,9 | 3,0 | 981,5 | 46,0 | 2,4 | 267.3 | 9,9 |
| IV | China / 2015 | 254,9 | 0,50 | 0,8 | 2,8 | 159,0 | 6,7 | 0,6 | 370,7 | 2,6 |
| V | China | 618,5 | 0,25 | 2,6 | 3,8 | 431,8 | 20,8 | 1,5 | 274,9 | 8,7 |
| VI | China | 849,8 | 0,33 | 24,4 | 6,3 | 784,3 | 62,3 | 7,3 | 422,9 | 20,5 |
| I | Arkhangelsk / 2016 | 71,13 | 0,19 | 5,51 | 7,37 | 234,1 | 7,41 | 2,45 | 1079,9 | 20,8 |
| II | Arkhangelsk / 2014 | 66,52 | 0,16 | 0,10 | 5,07 | 254,5 | 7,07 | 1,69 | 1174,8 | 28,7 |
The paper also states, across the combined literature plus author data and recalculated to dry product, that Table 2 spans 4,9 - 73 mg/kg arsenic (As), 0,11 - 16 mg/kg cadmium (Cd), 0,01 - 20 mg/kg mercury (Hg), and < 0,05 - 95 mg/kg lead (Pb). Those broader ranges are literature-context summaries rather than the six author-measured pharmacy-product rows.
Methods (brief)
The experimental objects were samples of the herbal medicinal product “Laminaria thalli” purchased from Moscow pharmacy chains. Raw material for samples I and II was collected in Russia from the White Sea in 2016 and 2014; samples III-VI were from China. Samples were dried to constant mass at 105°C for 2 h, ground to a homogeneous powder, sieved through a 1 mm mesh, then 0,5 g was digested with 8,0 cm3 concentrated nitric acid and 2,0 cm3 deionized water in a Milestone Ethos Up microwave system. The digest was filtered and diluted to 25 cm3. Elements were measured by ICP-MS on an Agilent 7900, with results reported as the mean of 3 parallel measurements and checked against a TEA LEAVES (INCT-TL-1) reference material.
Implications
This source supports seaweed/kelp food and algae-seaweed supplement occurrence context for dry Laminaria products in the Russian pharmacy market, with raw-material origins in Russia and China. The six author-measured rows should be treated as the primary occurrence data; the remaining rows in Tables 2 and 3 are secondary literature comparisons and should not be pooled as new primary samples from this source. Total arsenic, total mercury, and total chromium labels should be preserved because the source does not report inorganic arsenic, methylmercury, or Cr(VI).
Related evidence
- Seaweed/kelp foods (nori, wakame, kombu, dulse — as food products)
- Ingredient class — algae/seaweed-based
- Seaweed
- Arsenic, Total
- Cadmium
- Mercury, Total
- Lead
- Aluminum
- Cobalt
- Chromium
- Copper
- Iron
- Manganese
- Nickel
- Zinc
Update history
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