Detection of XXXX in German licensed herbal medicinal teas.

@entity5500 @entity6559 @entity15
BACKGROUND: Because of the hepatotoxic, mutagenic, and cancerogenic effects of @entity5500 ( @entity6559 ) the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) recommends not to exceed a daily PA intake of 0.007    g/kg body weight (0.42    g/60  kg adult). In a recent study conducted by the BfR, up to 5647    g PA/kg dried herbal material were detected in tea products marketed as food. PURPOSE: The present study aimed at elucidating whether medicinal teas licensed or registered as medicinal products contain @entity6559 as well. STUDY DESIGN: One hundred sixty-nine different commercially available medicinal teas, i.e. 19 nettle (Urtica dioica L.), 12 fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.), 14 chamomile (Matricaria recutita L.), 11 melissa (Melissa officinalis L.) and 4 peppermint (Mentha piperita L.) teas as well as 109 tea mixtures were analyzed for the presence of 23 commercially available @entity6559 . METHOD: LC/ @entity15 was used for the determination of the @entity6559 RESULTS: In general, the total PA contents ranging 0-5668    g/kg. Thirty percent of the tested single-ingredient tea products and 56.9% of the tested medicinal tea mixtures were found to contain PA concentrations above the limit of quantification (LOQ) of 10    g/kg. In 11 medicinal teas PA contents >300    g/kg dry herb were determined thus exceeding the recommended limit for PA intake by BfR. In addition three products of the investigated tea mixtures revealed extremely high PA contents of 4227, 5137, and 5668    g/kg. Generally, single-ingredient tea products contained much less or even no detectable amounts of @entity6559 when compared to the tea mixtures. @entity6559 in the range between 13 and 1080    g/kg were also detected in five analyzed aqueous herbal infusions of the medicinal tea mixture products with the highest PA content. Two out of the five investigated herbal infusions exceeded the recommended BfR limit for PA intake. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates clearly that also medicinal teas licensed as medicinal products may partly contain high amounts of @entity6559 exceeding current recommendations. For that reason manufacturers are advised to carry out more rigorous quality control tests devoted to the detection of @entity6559 . This is very important to minimize @entity6559 in medicinal teas accounting for possible additional exposure of the consumer to @entity6559 from other food sources (e.g. honey).
