Heavy Metal Accumulation and Health Risk Assessment in Moringa Oleifera from Awi Zone, Ethiopia

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Heavy Metal Accumulation and Health Risk Assessment in Moringa Oleifera from Awi Zone, Ethiopia Tewodros Adefa1 · Molla Tefera1  Received: 2 April 2020 / Accepted: 19 August 2020 © The Tunisian Chemical Society and Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

Abstract Moringa oleifera is rich in minerals and medicinally important tree species of family Moringaceae. In this study the concentration of selected heavy metals (cadmium, copper, chromium, lead and zinc) in Moringa oleifera leaves collected from Guangua and Zigem woredas in Awi Zone, Ethiopia using ICP-OES. The concentrations of metals in Moringa oleifera at Guangua and Zigem were found to be 9.0 and 4.35 mg/kg for Cr, 8.7 and 7.1 mg/kg for Cu and 56.7 and 28.8 mg/kg for Zn, respectively. However, the concentrations of Pb and Cd in all samples were below the detection limit. The concentration of Cu in Guangua and Zigem; and Zn in Zigem were below the permissible limit recommended by WHO. However, the concentration of Cr in both Guangua and Zigem; and Zn in Guangua were found above the permissible limit set by WHO. The validity of the optimized digested procedure was evaluated by spiking the digested samples with standard solution of metals and the percentage recoveries were found in the range 95.8 to 110.0%. The THQ values of Cr were found > 1, indicating that the consumption of Moringa oleifera may cause possible non-carcinogenic health risk. The values health index (HI) were of 9.866 and 4.882 at Guangua and Zigem, respectively, clearly suggests the possible adverse health effect to adult population from the consumption of Moringa oleifera the study areas. Keywords  Moringa oleifera · Guangua · Zigem · Heavy metals · Risk assessment · ICP-OES

1 Introduction Moringa oleifera (M. oleifera) is the most widely cultivated tree species of the genus Moringa that belongs to the family Moringaceae. This species is commonly known as the drumstick tree based on its seed pods, horse-radish tree regarding the taste of ground root [1, 2] and also called as Shiferaw in Amharic in Ethiopia [3]. It is a highly valued plant, distributed in various regions of tropics and subtropics of the world [4]. The Moringa tree is a small to medium size shrub, evergreen or deciduous tree commonly available in Africa, South America and Southeast Asia. It is characterized as fast rate growth and can be as tall as 7–12 m and as wide as 20–40 m [5].

* Molla Tefera [email protected] Tewodros Adefa [email protected] 1



Department of Chemistry, University of Gondar, P. O. Box 196, Gondar, Ethiopia

Moringa oleifera is the richest sources of proteins, vitamins, minerals, folic acid and β- carotene. All parts of the plant have been used for various ailments as indigenous medicine [6]. However, the leaves of the plant are richest sources of nutrients [7]. Moringa oleifera is used in human and animal nutrition and traditional medicine [8]. Besides, the leaves are also added as integrators of the diet in food preparations. Previous studies have shown various promising ef