Does anyone know how serious the problem of soil pollution is regarding human consumption of various teas? Yesterday I drank 2 bags of cheap, Chinese non-organic green tea around 20 minutes after waking, while fasted, and within 10 minutes started feeling significantly worse for wear, and then worse again after 30 minutes. Today I've switched to fresh coffee beans and do not feel so horrible as I did yesterday. Can anyone accurately interpret the available evidence and offer forth some advice? The internet is awash with sordid tales of Chinese soil/air/land/river pollution, maybe that is the problem?
Fe, Zn, Cu, Pb and Cd in Tea Grown and Marketed in Kenya; A Quantitative Assessment
ABSTRACT Accurate quantitation of levels of essential and non-essential elements in tea is of great importance as they are directly related to health and disease. In this study, levels of Iron (Fe), Zinc (Zn), Copper (Cu), lead (Pb) and Cadmium (Cd) in tea grown and marketed in Kenya were quantified by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (FAAS). In unprocessed tea, the levels were found to range between 54.6 and 123.3 µg/g for Fe, 15.4 and 37.5 µg/g for Zn, 10.3 and 14.8 µg/g for Cu, 0.12 and 0.28 µg/g for Pb and 10.0 and 27.1 μg/kg for Cd whereas in black tea, the levels ranged between 81 and 369 µg/g for Fe, 17.1 and 44.9 µg/g for Zn, 9.0 and 17.8 µg/g for Cu, 0.12 and 0.41 µg/g for Pb and 9.1 and 40.0 µg/kg for Cd. The general accumulation pattern of these elements was established to be Fe > Zn > Cu > Pb > Cd in both unprocessed and black tea. All tea samples had metal contents within the Maximum Permissible Concentrations (MPC) set for tea, hence safe for consumption.
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A copy and paste from wikipedia:
"
Aluminum and heavy metals
Tea drinking accounts for a high proportion of aluminum in the human diet. The levels are safe, but there has been some concern that aluminum traces may be associated with Alzheimer's disease. A recent study additionally indicated that some teas contained possibly risky amounts of lead (mostly Chinese) and aluminum (Indian/Sri Lanka blends, China). There is still insufficient evidence to draw firm conclusions on this subject."
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Is green tea worth drinking? Apologies for the sensational topic title, mods can edit that if they want.
Edited by Nathanial, 13 July 2014 - 08:30 AM.