Comparison of the fluoride content of four tea brands using spectrophotometry and ionic chromatography methods

Tea contains high concentrations of fluoride; therefore, tea consumption may contribute significantly to the total fluoride intake. Since different teas contain various amounts of fluoride, this study was conducted to compare the fluoride extraction of four popular domestic and foreign tea brands using spectrophotometric and ionic chromatography methods.

In this study, two foreign black tea brands (Lipton and Ceylon) and two domestic tea brands (Golestan and Mozafar) were selected. Three packages of each tea brand with the same production date and different batch types were purchased. To each 4 g of dried tea, 100 ml of boiling deionized water was added and the mixture was left on a water bath for the extraction of fluoride for 20 minutes at 85oc and then analyzed with spectrophotometric and ionic chromatography methods. ANOVA, Duncan and paired t tests were used for statistical analysis.

All four tea infusions had a considerable fluoride concentration (2.7-4.44ppm, using ionic chromatography and 2.77-4.38ppm using spectrophotometry). There was a significant difference between the fluoride concentration of these four tea brands (p<.05), of which Lipton had the highest floride concentration. Based on this research, there was no significant difference between spectrophotometry and ionic chromatography methods in determining the concentration of fluoride ions.

The mean fluoride concentration in Lipton tea was significantly higher than the other brands. There was no significant difference between spectrophotometric and ionic chromatography.