Novel metallomic profiling and non-carcinogenic risk assessment of botanical ingredients for use in herbal, phytopharmaceutical and dietary products using HR-ICP-SFMS

Abstract

Knowledge of element concentrations in botanical extracts is relevant to assure consumer protection given the increased interest in plant-based ingredients. This study demonstrates successful multi-element investigations in order to address the lack of comprehensive profiling data for botanical extracts, while reporting for the first time the metallomic profile(s) of arnica, bush vetch, sweet cicely, yellow rattle, bogbean, rock-tea and tufted catchfly. Key element compositions were quantified using a validated HR-ICP-SFMS method (µg kg−1) and were found highly variable between the different plants: Lithium (18–3964); Beryllium (3–121); Molybdenum (75–4505); Cadmium (5–325); Tin (6–165); Barium (747–4646); Platinum (2–33); Mercury (5–30); Thallium (3–91); Lead (12–4248); Bismuth (2–30); Titanium (131–5827); Vanadium (15–1758); Chromium (100–4534); Cobalt (21–652); Nickel (230–6060) and Copper (1910–6340). Compendial permissible limits were not exceeded. Overall, no evidence of a health risk to consumers could be determined from consumption of the investigated plants at reasonable intake rates. Mathematical risk modelling (EDI, CDI, HQ, HI) estimated levels above safe oral thresholds only for Cd (16%) and Pb (8%) from higher intakes of the respective plant-derived material. Following high consumption of certain plants, 42% of the samples were categorised as potentially unsafe due to cumulative exposure to Cu, Cd, Hg and Pb. PCA suggested a potential influence of post-harvest processing on Cr, Ti and V levels in commercially-acquired plant material compared to wild-collected and farm-grown plants. Moreover, a strong correlation was observed between Pb-Bi, Be-V, Bi-Sn, and Tl-Mo occurrence. This study may support future research by providing both robust methodology and accompanying reference profile(s) suitable for the quality evaluation of essential elements and/or metal contaminants in botanical ingredients.

Element transfer at the soil-plant interface and accumulation strategies of vegetation overgrowing mining waste dumps in the Upper Silesia area (Poland)

“…2.3). Kenny et al (2022) note T. farfara as a hyperaccumulator of Cr, Fe, Co and Ni, with max i mum con tent of the lat ter in flow ers. Popova (2019) com pares TE con tent data for T. farfara -a known hyperaccumulator -and a Trifolium grass grow ing near a mu nic i pal waste land fill and finds the for mer spe cies to al ways ac cu mu late max i mum amounts of Cr (89 mg/kg), Zn (661 mg/kg), Ni (30 mg/kg) and Pb (162 mg/kg).…”

Metals and metalloid in medicinal plants: occurrence and risk assessment to human health

“…The dried plant materials were pulverized into powder using a blender. The plant powder was digested following the methods reported by Adeyemi et al [31]. A portion of 100 mg of each powder was weighed in triplicate into a polypropylene tube of 15 mL, followed by the addition of 1 mL of nitric acid (20% v/v, CAS: 7697-37-2, Sigma-Aldrich) and 2 mL of hydrogen peroxide (30% v/v, CAS: 7722-84-1, Sigma-Aldrich).…”

Cadmium toxicity in medicinal plants: An overview of the tolerance strategies, biotechnological and omics approaches to alleviate metal stress

“…Metallomics, which includes the identification of metals (qualitative metallomics) and determining their levels (quantitative metallomics), may promote the development of applications for improved techniques in metal-contaminated soils ( Singh and Verma 2018 ). To assure the safety of therapeutic plants and products, harmful metals present in them can be identified using metallomics tools such as HR-ICP-SFMS ( Kenny et al 2022 ). Identifying metal-binding proteins such as phytochelatins and metallothioneins can be used as biomarkers for the heavy metal stress that medicinal plants experience ( Singh and Verma 2018 ).…”