Metal concentrations in taiwanese health food, Angelica keiskei, other products and maximum daily intake

"Angelica keiskei AK", a health food, originated from Japan (Umbelliferae, "Ashita-Ba" in Japanese), has been distributed islandwide and widely consumed by the general public in Taiwan during the past twenty-five years. This plant was recognized as natural aromatic and an important medicinal plant of traditional Chinese herbs. Presently, this herb is treated as a diuretic, analeptic, lactagogue and has been recommended, cultivated, and propagated by the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute (TARI). AK was sampled from five main planted areas to ensure diversity in the summer and spring harvest seasons in central Taiwan. Epithermal and instrumental neutron activation analysis (ENAA and INAA) revealed the presence of nearly twenty metals in the roots, fresh leaves and stems of the plant, as well as in end-products such as tea bags and capsules of the Taiwanese health food product. This research employed ENAA to identify aluminum (Al), arsenic (As), bromide (Br), chloride (Cl), iodine (I), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), manganese (Mn), sodium (Na), antimony (Sb), and samarium (Sm) and INAA to identify chromium (Cr), iron (Fe), lanthanum (La), rubidium (Rb), scandium (Sc), selenium (Se), vanadium (V) and zinc (Zn). Some of these elements are classified as either toxic or essential to humans. In the collected samples the elements exist in widely differing concentrations, ranging from 105 to 10-2 μg/g from different farms. Zinc concentrations in the tea bags are higher than those in the drinking teas, Mg, and I were the first elements to be detected. The elemental concentrations and maximum daily intake (MDI) of this herb are compared with those of Angelica sinensis (Danggui in Mandarin), Ligusticum chuanxiony (Chuanxiong in Mandarin) and Panax ginseng (Ginseng in Mandarin) as well as with the recommended daily dietary intake values for Taiwanese consumers, developed by the WHO. The prescription (12 g/day for adult, 6g/day for children), the MDI of As is below that recommended by WHO/FAO, and thus the average daily intake of Al, Fe and Sc in Taiwan is probably excessive. However, the MDI of Cr, Fe, Mn, and Zn among five farms and available in the markets are all below the levels recommended by WHO/RDA. Finally, the MDI of Al, Br, Cl, K, La, Na, Rb, Sb, Sc, Sm and V correlate closely with the levels recommended by WHO/RDA.