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Macro and Trace Elements in Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) Cultivated in Greece: Risk Assessment of Toxic Elements

The accumulation of hazardous contaminants in Cannabis sativa L. raises warning signs regarding possible adverse effects on human health due to the consumption of herbal medicines and/or other herbal edible products made from cannabis. Thus, there is an urge to investigate the levels of hazardous co...

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Autores principales: Zafeiraki, Effrosyni, Kasiotis, Konstantinos M., Nisianakis, Paul, Machera, Kyriaki
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8100522/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33968902
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2021.654308
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author Zafeiraki, Effrosyni
Kasiotis, Konstantinos M.
Nisianakis, Paul
Machera, Kyriaki
author_facet Zafeiraki, Effrosyni
Kasiotis, Konstantinos M.
Nisianakis, Paul
Machera, Kyriaki
author_sort Zafeiraki, Effrosyni
collection PubMed
description The accumulation of hazardous contaminants in Cannabis sativa L. raises warning signs regarding possible adverse effects on human health due to the consumption of herbal medicines and/or other herbal edible products made from cannabis. Thus, there is an urge to investigate the levels of hazardous contaminants, such as heavy metals, in cannabis plant. In the present study, 29 macro and trace elements, including both beneficial and toxic elements (heavy metals and metalloids), were investigated in 90 samples of Cannabis sativa L. collected from Greece. According to the results, the detected concentrations of macro elements in the leaves/flowers of cannabis ranged between 28 and 138,378 ppm, and of trace elements between 0.002 and 1352.904 ppm. Although the concentrations of elements varied among the samples, their accumulation pattern was found to be similar, with the contribution of toxic elements to the total concentration of trace elements being below 1%. The detected levels of the most toxic elements were below the prescribed limits established by the WHO, while the calculated THQ and CR values showed no risk (non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic) for the population exposed to the current cannabis samples. Positive correlation between the concentration of elements and cannabis geographical origin and variety was observed. Cannabis leaves/flowers were more contaminated with trace and macro elements than seeds.
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spelling pubmed-81005222021-05-07 Macro and Trace Elements in Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) Cultivated in Greece: Risk Assessment of Toxic Elements Zafeiraki, Effrosyni Kasiotis, Konstantinos M. Nisianakis, Paul Machera, Kyriaki Front Chem Chemistry The accumulation of hazardous contaminants in Cannabis sativa L. raises warning signs regarding possible adverse effects on human health due to the consumption of herbal medicines and/or other herbal edible products made from cannabis. Thus, there is an urge to investigate the levels of hazardous contaminants, such as heavy metals, in cannabis plant. In the present study, 29 macro and trace elements, including both beneficial and toxic elements (heavy metals and metalloids), were investigated in 90 samples of Cannabis sativa L. collected from Greece. According to the results, the detected concentrations of macro elements in the leaves/flowers of cannabis ranged between 28 and 138,378 ppm, and of trace elements between 0.002 and 1352.904 ppm. Although the concentrations of elements varied among the samples, their accumulation pattern was found to be similar, with the contribution of toxic elements to the total concentration of trace elements being below 1%. The detected levels of the most toxic elements were below the prescribed limits established by the WHO, while the calculated THQ and CR values showed no risk (non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic) for the population exposed to the current cannabis samples. Positive correlation between the concentration of elements and cannabis geographical origin and variety was observed. Cannabis leaves/flowers were more contaminated with trace and macro elements than seeds. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-04-22 /pmc/articles/PMC8100522/ /pubmed/33968902 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2021.654308 Text en Copyright © 2021 Zafeiraki, Kasiotis, Nisianakis and Machera. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Chemistry
Zafeiraki, Effrosyni
Kasiotis, Konstantinos M.
Nisianakis, Paul
Machera, Kyriaki
Macro and Trace Elements in Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) Cultivated in Greece: Risk Assessment of Toxic Elements
title Macro and Trace Elements in Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) Cultivated in Greece: Risk Assessment of Toxic Elements
title_full Macro and Trace Elements in Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) Cultivated in Greece: Risk Assessment of Toxic Elements
title_fullStr Macro and Trace Elements in Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) Cultivated in Greece: Risk Assessment of Toxic Elements
title_full_unstemmed Macro and Trace Elements in Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) Cultivated in Greece: Risk Assessment of Toxic Elements
title_short Macro and Trace Elements in Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) Cultivated in Greece: Risk Assessment of Toxic Elements
title_sort macro and trace elements in hemp (cannabis sativa l.) cultivated in greece: risk assessment of toxic elements
topic Chemistry
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8100522/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33968902
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2021.654308
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