Bioaccumulation of aluminum in dry tea leaves and health risks associated with its consumption by an urban populace in Port Harcourt Metropolis, Rivers State, Nigeria

Abstract

The concentration of aluminum in two brands of dry tea leaves and health risk assessment associated with its consumption was determined using standard methods. The dry tea leaves was Purchased from livinchu supermarket along Adageorge road in the heart of Port Harcourt metropolis, Rivers State, Nigeria, and brought to the laboratory of School of Pharmaceutical Technology, Department of Pharmacy Technician. The leaves were removed from their pouches and transferred into sample bottles, followed by acid digestion and an aspiration of an aliquot of the digested solution into an Agilent 42100 MP-AES machine to determine the residual aluminum content of the various teas, which was subsequently used to estimate the health risk associated with its consumption. Results showed that all the teas studied contained aluminum at varied concentrations with green tea containing moringa and strong black tea for men having values above 1000mg/kg while the rest had values less than 1000mg/kg. The result has clearly shown that green tea with moringa and black strong tea for men are hyperaccumulators of aluminum from soils than others, which can used for hytoremediation of aluminum contaminated soil. It also suggests that consumption of dry tea leaves is a major source of dietary exposed to aluminum in humans. Health risks assessment indicators depicted that all ADIs and HQs were less than unity (ADD < 1 and HRI or HQ < 1), and implies that there is no possibility of contracting non-cancerous disease that would have caused undue health issues of public health interest via consumption.