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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter July 3, 2014

Levels of Fluoride in the Ethiopian and Imported Black Tea (Camellia sinensis) Infusions Prepared in Tap and Fluoride-Rich Natural Waters

  • Asamene Embiale , Bhagwan Singh Chandravanshi EMAIL logo and Feleke Zewge

Abstract

In this study, the possible effect of original fluoride (F) concentration in six natural waters on the fluoride release from nine brands of tea leaves (whose origin was from Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, and China) during the infusion has been investigated. The capacity of tea leaves (commercially available tea) to absorb F from high-fluoride ground waters which were collected from the Ethiopia Rift Valley has also been investigated in this study. Infused F content of black (either powder or bag form) and green (bag form) teas and water from different sources were assayed. The fluoride content of waters used in this study ranged from 0.254 to 30.2 mg/L, while the fluoride in tea infusion of nine brands of tea ranged from 0.51 to 20.57 mg/L. The F content in moderately F-rich water was reduced from 12.5 to <5 mg/L in tea infusion while F content in highly F-rich water was reduced from 30.2 to <10 mg/L in tea infusion of most of the tea brands even with 3 min infusion time. Thus one can reduce the daily intake of F level by drinking tea rather than F-rich water itself.

Acknowledgments

The authors express their gratitude to the Department of Chemistry, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, for providing the laboratory facilities. Asamene Embiale is thankful to the Ministry of Education, Ethiopia, for sponsoring his study.

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Published Online: 2014-7-3
Published in Print: 2014-9-1

©2014 by De Gruyter

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