Health & Environmental Research Online (HERO)


Print Feedback Export to File
1762887 
Journal Article 
Human exposure assessment of fluoride from tea (Camellia sinensis L.): A UK based issue? 
Chan, L; Mehra, A; Saikat, S; Lynch, P 
2013 
Yes 
Food Research International
ISSN: 0963-9969
EISSN: 1873-7145 
51 
2 
564-570 
WOS:000318667000017 
Fluoride concentrations in UK tea, including the leading
supermarket economy labelled products, were determined. Fluoride ranged from 93 to 820 mg/kg in
the products and 0.43 to 8.85 mg/L in the infusions. The UK supermarket economy teas contained
elevated fluoride, ranging from 3.60 to 7.96 mg/L in a 2 minute brewing infusion, comparable to
Chinese brick tea, indicating the use of mature leaves in their manufacture. Considering the
dietary reference intake (DRI) of 4 mg/day of fluoride for an adult consuming 1 L of tea,
prepared from an economy tea, containing 6.0 mg/L fluoride, 75-120% of the DRI fluoride is
available for absorption by the human system in the presence of food, increasing to 150% when
fasting. Excess fluoride in the diet can lead to detrimental health effects such as fluorosis of
the teeth and skeletal fluorosis and consuming economy branded tea will lead to exposure. (C)
2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 
Fluoride; Camellia sinensis; Tea; Human exposure