Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Biological Trace Element Research https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-022-03239-x Assessment of Carcinogenic and Non-carcinogenic Risk of Exposure to Metals via Consumption of Coffee, Tea, and Herbal Tea in Iranians Seyedeh Faezeh Taghizadeh 1,2  · Majid Azizi 1  · Giti Hassanpourfard 1  · Ramin Rezaee 3,4  · Gholamreza Karimi 2,5 Received: 4 January 2022 / Accepted: 7 April 2022 © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2022 Abstract In the current study, we assessed health risk posed to Iranian consumers through exposure to metals via oral consumption of coffee, tea, and herbal tea of various trademarks collected from Iran market. Level of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Ni, and Pb in 243 samples was quantified by inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). The metal levels in coffee samples from different trademarks of a specific country had statistically similar levels of metals; however, metal levels differed significantly among brand names form different countries. Metal levels in tea samples differed significantly between domestic and imported products, while different trademarks of similar countries did not show significant variations in this respect. Metal level in herbal tea samples did not show significant variations among different trademarks. Neverthe- less, it should be highlighted that mean concentrations of metals statistically differed among different herbal tea samples. Deterministic hazard quotients (HQs) were <1.0 for all non-carcinogenic metals and total hazard index (HI) values indi- cated no risk; however, probabilistic assessment calculated HI values >1. In both deterministic and probabilistic scenarios, carcinogenic metals As and Ni had an estimated incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) of medium level while that of Pb indicated no cancer risk. Sensitivity analysis showed that the concentration of metals had the most significant effect on non- carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks. Keywords Stainless clad steel · Multi-pass welding · Mechanical properties · Microstructure · Transition zone · Local hardening zone Introduction Food safety has an important role in public health. In this field, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) and European Commis- sion (EC) strictly regulate the allowable concentrations or maximum permitted concentrations of metals in foodstuffs [1, 2]. Metals originating from polluted soil, water, etc. may enter the food chain and they are considered one of the major contaminants. Large zones of global farmlands have been shown to be affected by metals [3]. Ingestion of agricul- tural crops in which metals are accumulated may result in a considerable health risk to humans. These chemicals are mainly stored in the liver and kidney by binding to met- allothioneins. Co-exposure to different metals may lead to serious effects such as oxidative stress, hypertension, kidney dysfunction, diabetes, reproductive dysfunction, and hepatic, cardiovascular, and peripheral nervous conditions [4, 5]. Several metals are also classified as human carcinogens by * Ramin Rezaee raminrezaee1983@gmail.com; rezaeera@mums.ac.ir * Gholamreza Karimi karimig@mums.ac.ir 1 Department of Horticultural Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran 2 Pharmaceutical Research Center, Pharmaceutical Technology Institute, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran 3 International UNESCO Center for Health-Related Basic Sciences and Human Nutrition, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, P. O. Box, Mashhad 1365-91775, Iran 4 Applied Biomedical Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran 5 Department of Pharmacodynamics and Toxicology, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran