Risk assessment of specific heavy metals cumulative exposure to dendrobium officinale in nine provinces in China

ObjectiveTo understand the consumption of dendrobium officinale， by residents in nine Chinese provinces， and assess the cumulative levels of exposure related to four heavy metals （lead， cadmium， mercury， and arsenic） in dendrobium officinale consumers.MethodsConsumption data from nine Chinese provinces from 2019 and 2022 and a literature review were used based on a simple distribution model and the hazard index （HI） method to assess the health risk of four heavy metals .ResultsConsumers mainly preferred dried dendrobium officinale （37.3%） and commonly consumed it by brewing tea or cooking soup. The average value of a single consumption amount was 8.2 g/person. Fresh dendrobium officinale was consumed by 12.9% of the surveyed population， primarily through juicing with an average single serving size of 30.8 g/person. The exposure assessment results indicate that in the case of dendrobium officinale （dried/fresh）， the exposure levels of four heavy metals exposure in dried products were consistently higher than in fresh ones. Additionally， the average exposure level of lead （dried/fresh） was the highest； arsenic exposure levels for different gender-age groups were above the health guidance value or 5% reference dose ［Margin of exposure （MOE>1）］. Average lead exposure exceeded the standard （MOE>1）， whereas the 95th percentile （P95） values exposure were below 1 （MOE