Measurement of concentrations of six metals in Indian traditional medicine preparations and Sindoor powders

Ayurveda is one of the traditional medical practices that is originated from India where it is still widely practiced. This study is an attempt to determine the concentration of 6 selected metals, namely chromium, cobalt, nickel, arsenic, mercury, and lead in 19 samples of Ayurvedic herbal medicines and 7 Sindoor powders sent by physicians for analysis.

In this study, ICP-MS as direct analysis of a 1 in 100 dilution of the tested materials was employed which gives an estimate of the solubility of the metal constituents of the materials tested in 0.5% nitric acid.

The highest individual metal values found per gram in the tested materials were: chromium 3.2 microgram/g, cobalt 3.1microgram/g, arsenic 2811 microgram/g, mercury 1320 microgram/g, and lead 8329 microgram/g. Assuming only a 1 g intake/day of any single material tested, lead content exceeded in 10/26 (38%) of the preparations above the ANSI 173 oral permitted daily limit (PDE). Likewise, mercury and arsenic contents exceeded the oral PDE in 6/26 (23%). Some of these folk medicines had high levels of more than one element in it. The lead content in 3 of the 7 Sindoor powders surpassed the guideline. However, the nickel content did not exceed the PDE in the 19 samples tested.

Our data shows that, many of Ayurvedic medicine preparations tested still contain toxic amounts of arsenic, mercury, and lead. Sindoor powder which is traditionally and religiously used by many Indian women at their forehead also contains heavy metals like lead. All these materials can pose serious health risks to their users