Abstract
The objective of this study is to better quantify the occurrence, intake, and potential risk from Hg in fungi traditionally foraged in SW China. The concentrations and intakes of Hg were measured from 42 species including a “hard” flesh type polypore fungi and a” soft” flesh type edible species that are used in traditional herbal medicine, collected during the period 2011–2017. Three profiles of forest topsoil from the Zhenyuan site in 2015 and Changning and Dulong sites in 2016 were also investigated. The concentrations of Hg in composite samples of polypore fungi were usually below 0.1 mg kg−1 dry weight (dw) but higher levels, 0.11 ± 0.01 and 0.24 ± 0.00 mg kg−1 dw, were noted in Ganoderma applanatum and Amauroderma niger respectively, both from the Nujiang site near the town of Lanping in NW Yunnan. Hg concentrations in Boletaceae species were usually well above 1.0 mg kg−1 dw and as high as 10 mg kg−1 dw. The quality of the mushrooms in this study in view of contamination with Hg showed a complex picture. The “worst case” estimations showed probable intake of Hg from 0.006 μg kg−1 body mass (bm) (“hard” type flesh) to 0.25 μg kg−1 bm (“soft” flesh) on a daily basis for capsulated products, from 17 to 83 μg kg−1 bm (“soft” flesh) in a meal (“hard” type flesh mushrooms are not cooked while used in traditional herbal medicine after processing), and from 0.042 to 1.7 and 120 to 580 μg kg−1 bm on a weekly basis, respectively.Graphical abstractKey points• Polypore species were slightly contaminated with Hg.• Hg maximal content in the polypore was < 0.25 mg kg−1dry weight.• Many species from Boletaceae family in Yunnan showed elevated Hg.• Locals who often eat Boletus may take Hg at a dose above the daily reference dose.
Highlights
Mushrooms (Macromycetes), dried and powdered or in the form of extracts, are traditionally popular in Chinese herbal medicine and elsewhere in Asia and are considered functional foods (Bhatt et al 2018; Wang et al 2013; Wasser 2010)
The Hg concentration in forest topsoil at different depths from three sites spatially scattered across the Yunnan province suggests that, both, geogenic sources corresponding to specific topsoil profiles of Hg in Dulong and Changning, and an anthropogenic influence in Changning and Zhenyuan, seem possible (Fig. 2)
A recent study of Hg concentration and isotopic signatures in the forest topsoil (2016) and litter fall (2017) samples collected from the windward (1250– 2400 m a.s.l.) and leeward slopes of Mt
Summary
Mushrooms (Macromycetes), dried and powdered or in the form of extracts, are traditionally popular in Chinese herbal medicine and elsewhere in Asia and are considered functional foods (Bhatt et al 2018; Wang et al 2013; Wasser 2010). This traditional use of wild mushrooms as medicines has survived in other parts of the world, including Mexico (Nnorom et al 2019; Santiago et al 2016; Yongabi 2019). Cinnabar mining at the Lanmuchang site in Gùizhōu in southwestern China, and the use of HgS as red pigment vermilion and as a sedative in traditional herbal medicine, has an over 2000-year-old history in China (Wang 1944; Young et al 2002)
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