The ingestion of toxic metals through liquid herbal medicine over a long period of time, and in excessive dose, may result in chronic accumulation that could cause disorder to several organs of the body. This study evaluated the concentration, source, and probable health risk of 8 trace metals in liquid herbal medicines sold in Nigeria. Triplicate samples of 10 different brands of liquid herbal formulations were analyzed using flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Elemental concentrations (mg L-1) ranged as < 0.00120 (nickel), 0.329-1.23 (zinc), < 0.00150-0.0750 (chromium), 0.565-6.94 (manganese), 1.75-19.4 (iron), < 0.00150-0.266 (cobalt),  < 0.0018-3.01 (lead), and < 0.00900-0.0281 (copper). The estimated hazard quotient (HQ) and hazard index (HI) of trace metals (zinc, chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt, lead, and copper) were < 1.00, except for one of the herbal products which depicted a value of < 1.50, an indication that there is no major probable health effect due to exposure. Carcinogenic risks were lower than the threshold level of 10.0-6-10.0-4; this probably reflects non-existent carcinogenic risk in both age groups. The principal component analysis revealed the likelihood of geogenic and anthropogenic activities as indirect sources of trace metals in the herbs. Using hierarchical cluster analysis, AAB and AHM herbal mixtures showed strong similarities in cluster 1, while the remaining herbs reflected identical association within cluster 2. Based on the results of this study, there is need to periodically monitor levels of toxic metals in herbal medicine in order to ensure regulatory compliance and safeguard the health of its consumers.

中文翻译：

---

在尼日利亚销售的一些液体草药中微量金属的浓度、来源和健康风险。

长期通过液体草药摄入有毒金属，过量服用，可能导致慢性蓄积，从而导致身体多个器官的紊乱。本研究评估了尼日利亚销售的液体草药中 8 种微量金属的浓度、来源和可能的健康风险。使用火焰原子吸收分光光度计分析了 10 种不同品牌的液体草药制剂的三次样品。元素浓度 (mg L-1) 范围为 < 0.00120（镍）、0.329-1.23（锌）、< 0.00150-0.0750（铬）、0.565-6.94（锰）、1.75-19.4（铁）、< 0.00150-0.266（钴），< 0.0018-3.01（铅）和 < 0.00900-0.0281（铜）。微量金属（锌、铬、锰、铁、钴、铅、和铜）均小于 1.00，但其中一种草药产品的值小于 1.50，这表明接触可能不会对健康产生重大影响。致癌风险低于10.0-6-10.0-4的阈值水平；这可能反映了两个年龄组都不存在致癌风险。主成分分析揭示了地质和人为活动作为草药中微量金属的间接来源的可能性。使用层次聚类分析，AAB 和 AHM 草药混合物在集群 1 中显示出很强的相似性，而其余草药在集群 2 中反映了相同的关联。根据本研究的结果，需要定期监测草药中有毒金属的水平以确保合规性并保护其消费者的健康。