Diverse Elements in Herbal Tea Products Consumed in Serbia Using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry

Figures & data

Table 1 Analysed tea samples

No.	Sample code	Class	Packaging	Indications
Theae (Camelliae) folium
1.	G1	Green	Tea bags	Potent antioxidant, reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer, as well as having a beneficial impact on bone density, cognitive function, dental cavities, and kidney stones
2.	G2	Green	Tea bags
3.	G3	Green	Tea bags
4.	G4	Green (Mint)	Tea bags
5.	G5	Green (Jasmine)	Tea bags
6.	G6	Green (China)	Loose tea
7.	G7	Green (Japan)	Loose tea
8.	G8	Green	Loose tea
9.	G9	Green	Loose tea
10.	G10	Green	Loose tea
11.	B1	Black (Indian)	Tea bags	Potent antioxidant, relieves diarrhoea, lowers cholesterol levels, has a special therapeutic effect on gastric/intestinal discomforts
12.	B2	Black	Tea bags
13.	B3	Black	Tea bags
14.	B4	Black (Ceylon)	Tea bags
15.	B5	Black	Tea bags
16.	B6	Black (Ceylon)	Tea bags
17.	B7	Black (Russian)	Tea bags
18.	B8	Black	Tea bags
Menthae piperitae folium
19.	P1	Peppermint	Tea bags	Has a high menthol content, relieves irritable bowel syndrome, nausea and vomiting, diarrhoea, headaches, and baby colic
20.	P2	Tea bags
21.	P3	Tea bags
22.	P4	Loose tea
23.24.	C1C2	Chamomillae flosChamomile	Tea bagsLoose tea	Anti-inflammatory, spasmolytic, vulnerary, antimicrobial, mild sedative, carminative, antiseptic, anticatarrhal
25.	Cr1	Vaccinii macrocarponi fructus	Tea bags	Uroantiseptic
26.	Cr2	Cranberry	Tea bags
27.	Sa	Salviae folium sage	Loose tea	Refreshes the body, fights virus and bacteria, anti-inflammatory, dental caries
28.29.	R1R2	Rosae caninae pseudofructusRosehip	Tea bagsLoose tea	Rich source of vitamin C, used for colds and influenza
30.	U	Uvae ursi folium uva	Tea bags	Antibacterial, uroantiseptic
31.	Se	Sennae folium senna	Loose tea	Relieves occasional constipation
32.	M	Calendulae flos marigold	Loose tea	A cleansing and detoxifying herb with antifungal, antiviral, and antibiotic activity
33.	F	Foeniculi fructus fennel	Loose tea	Analgesic, antidepressive, anti-inflammatory, digestive disorders, spasmolytic

Table 2 Assessment of the accuracy and precision of the method by using standard reference material

Element	Found value, mg/kg	Certified value, mg/kg	Recovery, %
Fe	267	274 ± 18	97.4
Cu	9.21	9.42 ± 0.52	97.8
Mn	23.67	23.93 ± 0.29	98.9
Zn	131	135 ± 5	96.7
As	8.64	8.83 ± 0.91	97.9
Cd	0.176	0.179 ± 0.003	98.4
Sn	1.45	1.47 ± 0.27	98.3
Hg	0.098	0.101 ± 0.004	97.2
Pb	2.23	2.27 ± 0.13	98.2

Table 3 Element content in tea samples (mg/kg) expressed on dry basis

No.	Sample	Fe	Cu	Mn	Zn	As	Cd	Sn	Hg	Pb
1	G1	358.7	19.5	1189.6	27.8	0.265	0.108	23.3	0.132	2.79
2	G2	111.6	6.49	63.4	8.88	0.061	0.050	ND	ND	0.929
3	G3	395.7	64.3*	2541.8	63.1	0.26	0.002	20.1	ND	1.34
4	G4	364.6	15.6	1481.2	15.6	0.074	0.014	4.13	0.056	0.350
5	G5	322.0	11.2	1455.6	9.65	0.055	0.010	5.02	0.036	0.551
6	G6	669.6	21.8	0.365	26.9	0.213	0.089	10.0	ND	2.34
7	G7	315.9	16.9	0.365	28.5	0.081	0.128	5.75	ND	3.53
8	G8	715.8	13.9	672.6	28.3	0.311	0.249	12.1	ND	1.26
9	G9	888.7	24.2	1160.3	34.9	0.367	0.107	4.92	ND	2.0
10	G10	496.2	17.8	1798.2	31.2	0.159	0.061	9.97	ND	2.04
11	B1	392.7	63.6*	2912.8	57.4	0.26	0.006	13.7	0.058	1.38
12	B2	490.0	19.4	588.8	24.5	0.099	0.038	13.5	0.162	1.32
13	B3	150.1	9.68	36.6	15.9	0.102	0.061	1.56	0.01	0.324
14	B4	216.1	20.2	954.3	32.4	0.264	0.095	15.1	0.091	2.09
15	B5	446.0	16.7	864.0	23.4	0.151	0.017	12.3	0.008	0.620
16	B6	786.2	18.7	1501.2	29.7	0.359	0.029	22.2	0.736*	1.29
17	B7	453.7	12.8	802.1	19.9	0.893*	0.025	7.73	ND	1.22
18	B8	218.9	11.3	894.4	15.9	0.286	0.020	3.73	ND	0.891
19	P1	237.5	8.43	343.1	23.6	0.086	0.098	13.8	0.007	0.364
20	P2	345.1	8.96	214.7	20.1	0.115	0.076	2.95	0.010	0.381
21	P3	264.2	6.96	229.3	0.069	0.025	8.61*	0.009	0.530*	9.97*
22	P4	721.9	11.8	120.4	21.8	0.155	0.040	4.34	0.014	0.580
23	C1	506.7	8.85	69.3	24.4	0.337	0.132	4.28	0.001	0.856
24	C2	146.7	7.26	7098.7*	21.9	0.409	0.179	3.16	0.025	0.707
25	Cr1	274.0	9.45	102.1	43.9	0.052	0.031	426.3*	ND	1.52
26	Cr2	86.0	1.19	52.3	2.98	0.035	0.011	ND	ND	0.063
27	Sa	40.9	9.64	26.5	66.4	0.046	0.054	10.4	0.002	2.20
28	R1	464.5	14.9	1585.9	13.7	0.101	0.030	5.01	ND	1.62
29	R2	141.0	6.00	976.2	24.6	0.088	0.054	27.6	ND	0.103
30	U	183.8	3.39	15.7	29.9	0.031	0.012	0.77	ND	0.549
31	Se	465.7	12.4	41.6	15.4	0.286	0.011	15.7	0.017	0.423
32	M	1002.0	7.97	325.9	23.6	0.128	0.058	26.2	0.006	1.21
33	F	1.63	0.477	1.42	1.33	0.008	0.002	1.25	0.007	0.0005
*Outliers.
ND: not detected.