Differences in Aluminium Content of various tea powders (black, green, herbal, fruit)

Trace elements play a big role in human health. Some trace elements are essential, some are even harmful – especially in higher concentrations. Aluminum is not considered as essential element for men, but has, in contrary, been correlated with various human pathologies as for example dementia, Parkinson and Alzheimer disease. Its uptake is mainly via food and drinking water, where it occurs naturally or in form of a food additive or via contact with Aluminum containing devices used during food preparation and storage. The permissible daily dose for an adult is given with 60 mg of Aluminum. Although no limit concentration for Aluminum is given in the Codex Alimentarius Austriacus, the determination of the Aluminum content in food and beverages is of concern. In this investigation, different kinds of tea (black tea, green tea, fruit tea and herbal tea) were analyzed for their content of magnesium. The powders were brought into solution with a microwave assisted digestion with diluted nitric acid. The Aluminum content has been determined with ICP-OES (inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy). Statistically significant differences between the different kinds of tea could be found, whereby the real tea types (green and black) tea contain more Aluminum than fruit or herbal teas.