Levels of essential and non-essential elements in commercially available moringa herbal teas sold in Nigeria

Abstract

The focus of this study was to assess the quality of commercially packaged moringa tea brands available in the retail markets in Nigerian cities on the basis of the essential and nonessential elemental content in their tissues. Four different brands of moringa tea comprising two locally processed teas and two imported teas were obtained and analysed for their elemental concentrations using X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry. The observed mean concentrations of the essential mineral elements in all samples ranged between 50.78 to 61.13 mg/kg K, 29.81 to 42.03 mg/kg Ca 5.62-9.23 mg/kg S, 0.24 to 0.72 mg/kg Fe, 0.02-0.07 mg/kg Zn, 0.33-0.37 mg/kg Mn, and 0.01mg/kg Mo. Non-essential elements detected were Sr, Sc, Rb and Zr, all had concentrations below 1mg/kg. The heavy metals Pb and Cd were not detected. All concentrations of elements detected were within recommended daily allowance values. No toxic levels of heavy metals were determined in the brands analyzed.

Keywords: Moringa oleifera, x-ray fluorescence spectrometry, commercial