Content Comparison of Seven Harmful Elements in Lycium barbarum Berry from the Geographical Origin Fields and Supermarkets

摘要

In recent years, harmful element pollution has become an increasingly serious problem on agricultural products. A Chinese herbal medicine, known as Lycium barbarum L. (L. barbarum), was popular in the world due to its rich nutritional value. However, excessive harmful element in L. barbarum would damage to human health, so it was necessary to study the potential of harmful element contamination in it. In the present study, inductively coupled plasma optical Emission spectrometry (ICPOES) was used to detect the contents of aluminum (Al), arsenic (As) and five heavy metals, cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni) and zinc (Zn), in sixteen L. barbarum samples from geographical origin fields and ten samples from supermarkets. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to analyze the difference of element contents from different sources and Pearson Correlation analysis was used to analyze element correlation. Arsenic and Pb were not detected in samples from two sources, while Cd was only detected in two supermarkets samples. The contents of Al, Ni, Zn and Cu in L. barbarum samples from geographical origin fields were higher than that in samples from supermarkets. Statistical analysis results showed significant difference in Al contents of L. barbarum from two sources (P < 0.05), and significant positive correlation was found between Zn and Cu (P < 0.01). Considering harmful element contamination, it was recommended that consumers purchase L. barbarum from supermarkets.