TY - JOUR
T1 - Dietary exposure and risk assessment of chlorinated paraffins in roots and rhizomes of traditional Chinese medicine herbs
AU - Li, Huijuan
AU - Li, Hui
AU - Zhang, Shishan
AU - Li, Huizhi
AU - Zhao, Yanfang
AU - Chen, Xiangfeng
AU - Cai, Zongwei
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2022
PY - 2022/11
Y1 - 2022/11
N2 - Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) provides therapeutic and health care effects through dietary intake. Owing to the susceptibility of plants to contaminations, a risk assessment system is urgently needed to ensure the safe use of TCMs. In this study, the contamination levels and risks associated with the dietary intake of short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) and medium-chain chlorinated paraffins (MCCPs) were investigated in six kinds of frequently-used TCM herbs. The concentrations varied from 144.4 to 1527.8 ng·g−1 dw for SCCPs and non-detect to 1214.1 ng·g−1 dw for MCCPs, with mean values of 551.5 and 259.8 ng·g−1 dw, respectively. A geographic distribution analysis indicated that the concentrations of CPs in TCMs were mainly associated with their levels of contamination in the ambient environment. Carbon atom-chlorine congener profiles of CPs were dominated by C10Cl7-8 and C14Cl7-8 congeners, accounting for 20.1% and 32.4% of the total SCCP and MCCP concentrations, respectively. Principal component analysis indicated that the TCM species might be the main factor influencing the accumulation of SCCPs congeners. Finally, a risk assessment reveals that the estimated daily intake and margin of exposure were far below levels that might pose a health risk, indicating an acceptable dietary intake of SCCPs and MCCPs in the studied TCMs. This is the first report of CPs in the TCM herbs and the obtained results are expected to aid in future evaluation of the quality of TCMs and ensuring diet and drug safety.
AB - Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) provides therapeutic and health care effects through dietary intake. Owing to the susceptibility of plants to contaminations, a risk assessment system is urgently needed to ensure the safe use of TCMs. In this study, the contamination levels and risks associated with the dietary intake of short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) and medium-chain chlorinated paraffins (MCCPs) were investigated in six kinds of frequently-used TCM herbs. The concentrations varied from 144.4 to 1527.8 ng·g−1 dw for SCCPs and non-detect to 1214.1 ng·g−1 dw for MCCPs, with mean values of 551.5 and 259.8 ng·g−1 dw, respectively. A geographic distribution analysis indicated that the concentrations of CPs in TCMs were mainly associated with their levels of contamination in the ambient environment. Carbon atom-chlorine congener profiles of CPs were dominated by C10Cl7-8 and C14Cl7-8 congeners, accounting for 20.1% and 32.4% of the total SCCP and MCCP concentrations, respectively. Principal component analysis indicated that the TCM species might be the main factor influencing the accumulation of SCCPs congeners. Finally, a risk assessment reveals that the estimated daily intake and margin of exposure were far below levels that might pose a health risk, indicating an acceptable dietary intake of SCCPs and MCCPs in the studied TCMs. This is the first report of CPs in the TCM herbs and the obtained results are expected to aid in future evaluation of the quality of TCMs and ensuring diet and drug safety.
KW - Geographic distribution
KW - Risk assessment
KW - Short- and medium-chain chlorinated paraffins
KW - Traditional Chinese medicine
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85132178910&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11356-022-21527-w
DO - 10.1007/s11356-022-21527-w
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 35725876
AN - SCOPUS:85132178910
SN - 0944-1344
VL - 29
SP - 80637
EP - 80645
JO - Environmental Science and Pollution Research
JF - Environmental Science and Pollution Research
IS - 53
ER -
