Human exposure assessment of fluoride from tea ( Camellia sinensis L.): A UK based issue?

Fluoride concentrations in UK tea, including the leading supermarket economy labelled products, were determined. Fluoride ranged from 93 to 820mg/kg in the products and 0.43 to 8.85mg/L in the infusions. The UK supermarket economy teas contained elevated fluoride, ranging from 3.60 to 7.96mg/L in a 2minute brewing infusion, comparable to Chinese brick tea, indicating the use of mature leaves in their manufacture. Considering the dietary reference intake (DRI) of 4mg/day of fluoride for an adult consuming 1L of tea, prepared from an economy tea, containing 6.0mg/L fluoride, 75–120% of the DRI fluoride is available for absorption by the human system in the presence of food, increasing to 150% when fasting. Excess fluoride in the diet can lead to detrimental health effects such as fluorosis of the teeth and skeletal fluorosis and consuming economy branded tea will lead to exposure.