ArticleBMC complementary and alternative medicine2019
Heavy metal content of herbal health supplement products in Dubai - UAE: a cross-sectional study.
Article in BMC complementary and alternative medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- The interplay of Ashwagandha with hormonal dynamics and gut microbiota in women with breast cancer: a tri-axial perspective.Journal of natural medicines · 2026Review
- Analysis of heavy metal content in protein powders available on the Hungarian market: a reassuring snapshot, but not a reassuring quality guarantee.Journal of nutritional science · 2025Article
- Toxic Elemental Impurities in Herbal Weight Loss Supplements; A Study Using ICP-OES Microwave-Assisted Digestion.Toxics · 2023Article
- Mercury Exposure from the Consumption of Dietary Supplements Containing Vegetable, Cod Liver, and Shark Liver Oils.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Are Ayurvedic medications store house of heavy metals?Toxicology research · 2022Article
- Risk Assessment of Lead and Cadmium in Some Food Supplements Available on the Romanian Market.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- An Analysis for Adulteration and Contamination of Over-the-Counter Weight-Loss Products.AAPS PharmSciTech · 2021Article
- Heavy Metal contamination of Dietary Supplements products available in the UAE markets and the associated risk.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Fish oil supplements, oxidative status, and compliance behaviour: Regulatory challenges and opportunities.PloS one · 2020Article
- Evaluation of Heavy Metal and Microbial Contamination in Green Tea and Herbal Tea Used for Weight Loss in the Palestinian Market.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundLead, mercury, cadmium, chromium, and arsenic intoxication have been associated with the use of health supplement (HS) products. The aim of this study is to estimate the concentration of heavy metals in HS products that are on sale in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, premises and to compare estimated daily metal intake with regulatory standards.
methodsDubai-area premises selling HS products were identified by searching the Dubai Municipality database to identify all pharmacies, para-pharmacies and nutrition and healthcare shops. A total of 859 premises were identified in the Deira and Bur-Dubai areas. Data collection was performed between September 1 and December 12, 2016. During that period, all premises that had been identified within Dubai were visited and samples for laboratory testing were collected.
resultsA total of 200 HS products were tested for lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium and arsenic. High proportion of samples were found to contain metals less than the limits of the detection (LOD) of the method. It was found that 93% of products contained Arsenic (As) < LOD, 94.5% of lead (Pb) < LOD, 100% of Cadmium (Cd) < LOD, 99% of Mercury (Hg) < LOD and 23.5% of Chromium (Cr) < LOD. Using the single imputation method to account for LOD, estimates for the average daily intake of lead was 0.88 μg compared to the tolerable daily intake (TDI) of 20 μg, daily intake of mercury was 0.09 μg (TDI = 20 μg), daily intake of cadmium was 0.83 μg (TDI = 6 μg) while for arsenic it was 0.92 μg compared to the tolerable daily intake of 10 μg. The average daily intake of chromium was 7.57 μg with no internationally established TDI. Assuming users followed the manufacturers' instructions, daily intake of arsenic, lead and mercury would not exceed TDI for any of the 200 products. However, the daily intake of cadmium exceeded or approximated the TDI for three products.
conclusionsIn this study we found low levels of metals in the products that were available for sale in Dubai. With few exceptions, if the products were used according to the suppliers' instructions, average daily intake of heavy metals will be well below the recommended tolerable daily intakes.
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