Skeletal fluorosis and instant tea

An exposure and risk assessment for fluoride and trace metals in black tea

“…Hudaykuliev et al [21] reported a range of F content for Turkish teas as 88-289 mg/kg which corresponds to 0.8-2.6 mg/l infusion concentrations with the assumption of water-soluble fraction is 90%. Higher levels were reported from other parts of the world as 0.45-6.5 mg/l [7,10,11,18]. The highest concentrations (4.8-7.3 mg/l) occurred in brick tea infusions after 6 h of infusion [19].…”

“…Cao et al [18] reported that an increased risk occurs for bone effect at a total intake of 6 mg F/day. Whyte et al [7] considered 10 mg F/day as the threshold level for "preclinical skeletal fluorosis." Descriptive statistics of individual exposure and risk (HQ) estimations, based on the RfD, are shown in Table 3.…”

“…Higher F levels were measured in infusions of instant black tea bags than of granular and stick shaped black tea [18]. In fact recently, skeletal fluorosis diagnosed on an American patient was found to be associated with her long-term intake of instant tea in large quantities [7]. While almost all the fluoride could be infused into water [17], transfer ratio from tea product to liquor was estimated as 0.34-0.58 for aluminum [12].…”

“…The impact of tea drinks on human health has been observed, and trace elemental content of tea has been investigated in Southern Asian countries where tea is a traditional drink consumed in large quantities, such as in China [9], India [10], Taiwan [11], and Tibet [6] for fluoride, and in China [12], and Thailand [13] for aluminum and other trace elements. Recently, infusion fluoride concentrations of up to 6.5 mg/l [7] and brand name bottled tea concentrations of up to 4.1 mg/l [14] were measured in the US.…”

“…While beneficial effects were investigated against cancer [1,2], vascular diseases [3], hypertension [4], and dental caries [5], tea was associated with dental [6] and skeletal [7] fluorosis, and Alzheimer's disease [8] due to accumulation of fluoride (F) and aluminum (Al), respectively, in the plant. The impact of tea drinks on human health has been observed, and trace elemental content of tea has been investigated in Southern Asian countries where tea is a traditional drink consumed in large quantities, such as in China [9], India [10], Taiwan [11], and Tibet [6] for fluoride, and in China [12], and Thailand [13] for aluminum and other trace elements.…”