Determination of enantiomeric fractions of cypermethrin and cis-bifenthrin in Chinese teas by GC/ECD

BACKGROUND

The pyrethroids cypermethrin and cis-bifenthrin are the major pesticides used in tea plantations in China. Potential neurotoxic, genotoxic and immunotoxic effects of chronic exposure to pyrethroids have been reported. All synthetic pyrethroids are chiral compounds. There is a need to investigate the chiral transformation among isomers after tea processing in order to obtain an accurate risk assessment of these compounds.

RESULTS

The enantiomeric fraction (EF) of cis-bifenthrin residues was close to 0.5 in all tea samples tested, showing that the levels of (+)-isomer and (-)-isomer were equivalent and there was no preferential degradation. However, the patterns of EFs of cypermethrin residues varied depending on the type of tea. The EF of isomer 1R-3R-alphaS increased in black and dark tea samples (EF = 0.200-0.343) compared with the reference cypermethrin commercial mixture (EF = 0.116). In one oolong tea sample it was found that the relative abundance of some isomers was preferentially enhanced: 1R-3R-alphaS (EF = 0.260), 1S-3S-alphaR (EF = 0.263) and 1R-3S-alphaS/1S-3R-alphaR (the last elution peak, EF = 0.275). The relationship between EF and compound concentration was also analysed, showing that the variation in EFs of cypermethrin was concentration-dependent.

CONCLUSION

These findings appear to be useful for assessing the species-specific risk of exposure to cypermethrin and cis-bifenthrin.

[Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in tea and tea infusions]

Tea is the one of most widely consumed beverage in the world. It is generally believed that tea consumption might have health promoting properties. But residues of certain chemical compounds might impose a health threat on tea drinkers. The main contaminants are heavy metals, fluoride, pesticides and even dioxins. Tea lives which possess a high surface area can be contaminated with atmospheric PAHs. The manufacturing processes may also introduce PAHs into tea lives. The aim of his study was to determine the contamination of black, green, red and white teas by PAHs. In this investigation, content of 23 PAH, i.e 16 EPA PAH and 15 EU PAH were determined in 18 brands of tea and its infusions. The analytical procedure was based on ultrasonic extraction for dried tea and liquid-liquid extraction for infusions. All samples were cleaned up by florisil cartridge. The total content of 23 PAH varied between 22.9 microg/kg to 2945.5 microg/kg and 2.7 microg/kg to 63,1 microg/kg microg/kg for BaP. The analysed tea samples showed an increasing presence of PAH in the following order (mean value): black tea < red tea < green tea < white tea. However the highest content of PAH was found in the one brand of black tea bag both in sum of PAH and BaP content. During tea infusion 1.6% of total PAHs contained in tea was released into the beverage. The dominant PAHs in tea infusion were 2, 3 and 4 rings PAH, while the most toxic compounds were found at trace amounts. The concentrations of total 23 PAHs and BaP in tea infusions ranged from 332.5 ng/dm3 to 2245.9 ng/dm3 and 0.35 ng/dm3 to 18.7 ng/dm3 respectively.

[Identification of tea from different regions using X-ray fluorescence]

The existence of fake tea from non-origin seriously impacts on the credibility of the famous tea. A method was developed to identify tea from difference regions on the basis of the fact that the content of heavy metals in different origin tea is varied by using X-ray fluorescence technique and pattern recognition technique. Samples from different origins were grouped respectively, and their X-ray fluorescence spectra were acquired, and then the principal components of these spectral data were calculated, and the average of the principal components of each group was used as the center of each group. The Mahalanobis distance value between a sample and the center of a group were calculated, when the Mahalanobis distance value reached minimum, the sample was classed to current group, and in this way, a sample was identified. A Niton 792 portable X-ray spectrometer was used to class 120 tea samples from Anji, Jinhua, Hangzhou and Taizhou, in zhejiang province of China. It was found that the spectra between 3 and 13 KeV and the first 4 principal components give enough information for the identification of tea from different regions,and the rate of error was 4.2%.

[Study on discrimination of tea based on color of multispectral image]

Tea is one of the most popular beverages worldwide. Its categories have a great relationship to its beneficial medicinal properties. The present work attempted to study the feasibility to use multispectral imaging technique as a rapid and non-destructive method to discriminate tea varieties. Two categories of tea discriminated hardly by naked eye were sorted. The images were 1 036 pixels vertically by 1 384 pixels horizontally with 24-bit depth, and were captured using a red (R) waveband, near infrared (NIR) waveband and green (G) waveband multispectral digital imager, MS3100 (Duncan Technologies, Inc., CA, USA). The three wavebands of image (Red, Green, NIR) can be composed into one image which contains more information than images recorded by ordinary digital cameras, especially, the NIR image is more sensitive to the color of organic matter than visible spectrum. The three images of one sample can be obtained simultaneously. The color features of tea were calculated using the standard notations: mean and mean square deviation. Then, the two color features of 3CCD and ordinary digital cameras were extracted and calculated by Matlab 7. 3 software respectively, and were contrasted. A total of 60 samples were adopted, and the features of mean and mean square deviation of NIR waveband image were applied as inputs to a back propagation neural network (BP-ANN) with one hidden layer. The forty samples (twenty for each category) were selected randomly to build BP-ANN model, and this model was used to predict the varieties of 20 unknown samples (ten for each category). The two categories of tea can be discriminated by the information of color of images of 3CCD, but can not by the ordinary digital cameras. The result indicted that the discrimination rate of classification set of BP-ANN model was up to 100% within 0.3 of threshold. It concluded that multi-spectral imaging technique has a high potential to identify categories of green tea fast and non-destructively.

Determination of in vitro antidiabetic effects, antioxidant activities and phenol contents of some herbal teas

In this research, some herbal teas and infusions traditionally used in the treatment of diabetes in Turkey, have been studied for their antidiabetic effects on in vitro glucose diffusion and phenolic contents and antioxidant activities. Ten aqueous herbal tea extracts were examined using an in vitro method to determine their effects on glucose movement across the gastrointestinal tract. Total phenol content of herbal teas was analyzed by Folin-Ciocalteu's procedure. Antioxidant activities of herbal teas were evaluated by the effect of extracts on DPPH radical and hydrogen peroxide scavenging. Antioxidant activity was defined as the amount of the sample to decrease the initial DPPH concentration by 50% as efficient concentration, EC50. Antiradical activity [AE] was calculated as 1/EC50. Values were evaluated statistically. Results support the view that none of the herbal teas showed antidiabetic effect on glucose diffusion using in vitro model glucose absorption. Teas were arranged in the order of green tea > peppermint > thyme > black tea > relax tea > absinthium > shrubby blackberry > sage > roselle > olive leaves according to their total phenol contents. Among ten herbal teas, green tea had the highest hydrogen-donating capacity against to DPPH radical. Ranking of the herbal teas with respect to their DPPH radical scavenging activity were green tea > peppermint > black tea > thyme > relax tea > absinthium > roselle > olive leaves > sage > shrubby blackberry. It was determined that adding flavoring substances such as lemon, bergamot, clove and cinnamon, which are commonly used in preparation of black tea in Turkey resulted to have synergistic effect on total antioxidant activities of black and peppermint teas. The highest hydrogen peroxide inhibition value (65.50%) was obtained for green tea at a 250 microl/ml concentration. The H2O2 scavenging activity of herbal teas decreased in the order green tea > peppermint > relax tea > black tea > thyme > olive leaves > sage > absinthium > shrubby blackberry > roselle. In particular, their phenolic compounds and antioxidant activities may be useful for meal planning in type 2 diabetes. They could contribute to sustain plasma antioxidant level because antioxidants present in plants and herbs prevent the development of vascular diseases seen in type 2 diabetes.

Potential exposure and risk of fluoride intakes from tea drinks produced in Taiwan

Tea is the second most commonly consumed drink in the world. Excess fluoride intakes from tea drinks may cause health effects. This work assesses infusible fluoride levels in popular tea sold in Taiwan and evaluates potential exposure factors. Lungjing, pouchong, tienguanyin, oolong, pureh, and black tea specimens were purchased from different counties in Taiwan. Fluoride levels were evaluated in one complete cycle of tea making as well as at different calcium carbonate contents in water, with glass or porcelain teapots, and with/without adding sugar. Oolong tea leaves in each manufacturing step were also analyzed for infusible fluoride. Potential fluoride intakes and risks are estimated based on a national survey. Among six kinds of tea, black tea had the highest fluoride concentrations (8.64+/-2.96 mg/l), whereas pureh (1.97+/-2.70 mg/l) had the lowest levels. Higher percentages of infusible fluoride can be rinsed away from tea leaves curved lengthways compared to those curved end-to-end in the first 2.5 min. The use of glass or porcelain teapots and calcium carbonate content (up to 400 mg/l) in water would not affect infusible fluoride levels, whereas adding sugar increased the infusible fluoride in the first few minutes. In addition, it was found that the critical step during the manufacturing process affecting the percentage of infusible fluoride was ball rolling rather than fermentation. Furthermore, intakes of high amounts (> or =5 l/week) of certain tea may result in excess risks of dental or skeletal fluorosis. Tea lovers could be exposed to excess fluoride and may be at risk of fluorosis.

Differential effects of black versus green tea on risk of Parkinson's disease in the Singapore Chinese Health Study

Data from Asian populations on dietary and lifestyle factors associated with Parkinson's disease are sparse. In 1993-2005, the authors examined these factors in relation to Parkinson's disease in the Singapore Chinese Health Study, a prospective cohort of 63,257 Chinese men and women. Baseline data were collected through in-person interviews using structured questionnaires. All 157 incident Parkinson's disease cases were identified either through follow-up interviews or via linkage with hospital discharge databases and Parkinson's disease outpatient registries and were confirmed by review of medical records. Current versus never smokers exhibited a reduced risk of Parkinson's disease (relative risk = 0.29, 95% confidence interval: 0.16, 0.52). Total caffeine intake was inversely related to Parkinson's disease risk (p for trend = 0.002); the relative risk for the highest versus lowest quartile was 0.55 (95% confidence interval: 0.35, 0.88). Black tea, a caffeine-containing beverage, showed an inverse association with Parkinson's disease risk that was not confounded by total caffeine intake or tobacco smoking (p for trend = 0.0006; adjusted relative risk for the highest vs. lowest tertile of intake = 0.29, 95% confidence interval: 0.13, 0.67). Green tea drinking was unrelated to Parkinson's disease risk. Diet had no strong influence on risk. Ingredients of black tea other than caffeine appear to be responsible for the beverage's inverse association with Parkinson's disease.

Rapid differentiation of tea products by surface desorption atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry

Protonated water molecules generated by an ambient corona discharge were directed to impact tea leaves for desorption/ionization at atmospheric pressure. Thus, a novel method based on surface desorption chemical ionization mass spectrometry (DAPCI-MS) has been developed for rapid analysis of tea products without any sample pretreatment. Under the optimized experimental conditions, DAPCI MS spectra of various tea samples are recorded rapidly, and the resulting mass spectra are chemical fingerprints that characterize the tea samples. On the basis of the mass spectral fingerprints, 40 tea samples including green tea, oolong tea, and jasmine tea were successfully differentiated by principal component analysis (PCA) of the mass spectral raw data. The PCA results were also validated with cluster analysis and supervised PCA analysis. The alteration of signal intensity caused by rough surfaces of tea leaves did not cause failure in the separation of the tea products. The experimental findings show that DAPCI-MS creates ions of both volatile and nonvolatile compounds in tea products at atmospheric pressure, providing a practical and convenient tool for high-throughput differentiation of tea products.

1H NMR based metabolic profiling in the evaluation of Japanese green tea quality

Classification of tea quality is now mainly performed according to the sensory results by professional tea tasters. However, this evaluation method is inconsistent in differentiating their qualities. A combination of a (1)H NMR technique and a multivariate analysis was introduced to the quality evaluation of green tea by means of a metabolomic technique. A broad range of metabolites were detected by (1)H NMR spectrometry. The principal component analysis (PCA) was used to reduce the complexity of the (1)H NMR spectra data set and provided the quality discrimination result. It offered an extensive clue for classification and quality assessment without any prepurification method. A set of green teas from a Japanese tea contest were analyzed by (1)H NMR to classify the quality with respect to that judged by tea tasters and to conceive a quality prediction model. Metabolic profiling and fingerprinting of (1)H NMR spectra of green teas with different quality were studied. PCA showed a separation between the high- and the low-quality green teas. The taste marker compounds contributing to the discrimination of tea quality were identified. Reliable prediction models were obtained by the partial least-squares projection to latent structure (PLS) analysis together with a preprocessing filter of both orthogonal signal correction (OSC) and a combination between OSC and wavelet transform algorithms.

Differentiation of green, white, black, Oolong, and Pu-erh teas according to their free amino acids content

In this paper, the differentiation of green, black, Oolong, white, and Pu-erh teas has been carried out according to their free amino acid contents. Alanine, arginine, asparagine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, isoleucine, histidine, leucine, phenylalanine, serine, theanine, threonine, and tyrosine have been determined by liquid chromatography with derivatization with o-phthalaldehyde and fluorescence detection. The chromatographic separation was achieved with a Hypersil ODS column and gradient elution. The amino acid contents were used as chemometric descriptors for classification purposes of different tea varieties. Principal component analysis, k-nearest neighbors, linear discriminant analysis, and artificial neural networks were applied to differentiate tea varieties. Using back-propagation multilayer perceptron artificial neural networks, 100% success in the classification was obtained. The most differentiating amino acids were glutamic acid, asparagine, serine, alanine, leucine, and isoleucine.

Reading the tea leaves: anticarcinogenic properties of (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate

Green tea is an extremely popular beverage worldwide. Derivatives of green tea, particularly (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), have been proposed to have anticarcinogenic properties based on preclinical, observational, and clinical trial data. To summarize, clarify, and extend current knowledge, we conducted a comprehensive search of the PubMed database and other secondary data sources, as appropriate, regarding the chemopreventive potential of EGCG. Apparently, EGCG functions as an antioxidant, preventing oxidative damage in healthy cells, but also as an antiangiogenic agent, preventing tumors from developing a blood supply needed to grow larger. Furthermore, EGCG may stimulate apoptosis in cancerous cells by negatively regulating the cell cycle to prevent continued division. Finally, EGCG exhibits antibacterial activity, which may be implicated in the prevention of gastric cancer. Although in vitro research of the anticarcinogenic properties of EGCG seems promising, many diverse and unknown factors may influence its in vivo activity in animal and human models. Some epidemiological studies suggest that green tea compounds could protect against cancer, but existing data are inconsistent, and limitations in study design hinder full interpretation and generalizability of the published observational findings. Several clinical trials with green tea derivatives are ongoing, and further research should help to clarify the clinical potential of EGCG for chemoprevention and/or chemotherapy applications.

The effect of green, black and white tea on the level of alpha and gamma tocopherols in free radical-induced oxidative damage of human red blood cells

The present study was undertaken to investigate the effect of aqueous tea extracts on lipid peroxidation and alpha and gamma tocopherols concentration in the oxidative damage of human red blood cells (RBC). RBC was taken as the model for study of the oxidative damage was induced by cumene hydroperoxide (cumOOH). The antioxidative property of leaf green tea, leaf and granulate of black tea and white tea at levels 1, 2, 4 g/150 mL of water were evaluated. The correlation was observed between reducing power of tea extract and formation of malondialdehyde--MDA (an indicator of lipid peroxidation) in oxidative damage of RBC. All tea extracts at level of 4 g/150 mL of water significantly decreased concentration of MDA. The extract of green tea in comparison to black and white tea extracts at the same levels seems to be a better protective agent against oxidative stress. The antioxidant synergism between components extracted from leaves of green tea and endogenous alpha tocopherol in the oxidative damage of red blood cells was observed. The consumption of alpha tocopherol in oxidative damage of RBC was the lowest after treatment with the highest dose of green tea extract. All tea extracts did not protect against decrease of gamma tocopherol in human erythrocytes treated with cumOOH.

Prediction of Japanese green tea ranking by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry-based hydrophilic metabolite fingerprinting

An innovative technique for green tea's quality determination was developed by means of metabolomics. Gas-chromatography coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry and multivariate data analysis was employed to evaluate the quality of green tea. Alteration of green tea varieties and manufacturing processes effects a variation in green tea metabolites, which leads to a classification of the green tea's grade. Therefore, metabolic fingerprinting of green tea samples of different qualities was studied. A set of ranked green tea samples from a Japanese commercial tea contest was analyzed with the aim of creating a reliable quality-prediction model. Several multivariate algorithms were performed. Among those, the partial least-squares projections to latent structures (PLS) analysis with the spectral filtering technique, orthogonal signal correction (OCS), was found to be the most practical approach. In addition, metabolites that play an important role in green tea's grade classification were identified.

[Determination of elements related to reducing blood sugar (ERBS) in tea and tea polysaccharide by ICP-MS]

Contents of elements related to reducing blood sugar (ERBS) in several kinds of green tea of Wuyuan county, their tea infusion extracted by warm water and boiling water and tea polysaccharide (TP) were determined by ICP-MS, after the samples were digested with acids by microwave method. The relation between the amount of ERBS and tea quality and the relation between the content of ERBS in TP and the total content in tea were discussed. The results showed that the amounts of ERBS in tea and TP are different in various samples. The amount of ERBS in TP extracted from coarse tea was higher than that from fresh tea. The percentage of certain ERBS in TP accounting for the ERBS in tea ranged from 0.03% to 9.57%. As to the total ERBS in TP extracted from Mt. Zhang super grade tea and grade 5 tea, the percentages were 1.11% and 2.10% respectively. As to Mt. Gu old tea, it was 0.85%. The results could provide data for selecting tea material used to extracting tea polysaccharide and for studying the mechanism of reducing blood sugar.

[Study on the identification of tea using near infrared reflectance spectroscopy]

A rapid tea identification method by near infrared spectroscopy coupled with pattern recognition based on principal components analysis and Mahalanobis' distance technique was proposed. Four famous brand teas in China were studied, including Longjing tea, Biluochun tea, Maofeng tea and Tieguanyin tea in the experiment. In the spectral region between 6 500 and 5 300 cm(-1), through preprocessing method of MSC (multiplicative scatter comection), the prediction model was built. The result showed that the model was the best with 8 principal component factors. The rates of identification in calibration set samples and prediction set samples were 98.75% and 95%, respectively. A new idea about quick and precise identification of tea was offered.

Factors affecting transfer of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from made tea to tea infusion

Factors affecting transfer percentages of 12 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were investigated, including tea variety, tea/water ratio (TWR, g/mL), brewing times, washed tea or unwashed tea, and covered cup or uncovered cup. It was observed that %PAH transfer varied with tea variety and increased with the decrease of TWR. The mean %PAH transfer with TWR = 1/150 was 1.12 and 1.65 times higher than that with TWR = 1/100 and 1/50, respectively. %PAH transfer reduced greatly as the brewing times increased. The mean %PAH transfer in the first brewing time occupied 51.6% of the total three mean %PAH transfers in the three brewing times. The mean %PAH transfer decreased by 30.4% after the tea had been washed immediately before brewing. Brewing the tea within uncovered cup diminished %PAH transfer by a degree of 4.31-31.7% compared to brewing the tea within a covered cup.

Qualitative identification of tea categories by near infrared spectroscopy and support vector machine

Near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy has been successfully utilized for the rapid identification of green, black and Oolong tea. The spectral features of each tea category are reasonably differentiated in the NIR region, and the spectral differences provided enough qualitative spectral information for the identification of tea. Support vector machine (SVM) as the pattern recognition was applied to identify three tea categories in this study. The top five principal components (PCs) were extracted as the input of SVM classifiers by principal component analysis (PCA). The RBF SVM classifiers and the polynomial SVM classifiers were studied comparatively in this experiment. The best experimental results were obtained using the radial basis function (RBF) SVM classifier with sigma=0.5. The accuracies of identification were all more than 90% for three tea categories. Finally, compared with the back propagation artificial neural network (BP-ANN) approach, SVM algorithm showed its excellent generalization for identification results. The overall results show that NIR spectroscopy combined with SVM can be efficiently utilized for rapid and simple identification of the tea categories.

[Determination of nine life elements in brick tea by ICP-AES]

ICP-AES was used for the direct determination of nine life elements (Ca, Mg, K, Al, P, Cu, Zn, Fe and Mn) in brick tea. The RSDs of the method were between 2.11% and 8.68%, and the analytical results of the tea reference samples were consistent with the certified values. The method was simple and accuracy. The analytical results of brick tea were compared with those of the ordinary leaf tea (green tea, scent tea and oolong tea). The Al, Fe, Mn, Ca and Mg contents of brick tea were about 5.78, 3.26, 2.19, 2.11 and 1.64 times higher than those of the ordinary leaf tea respectively. The P, K, Zn and Cu contents of brick tea were 48.70%, 85.68%, 78.19% and 98.78% times lower than those of the ordinary leaf tea respectively.

[The green tea, a good choice for cardiovascular disease prevention?]

Tea (Camellia sinensis) has been used for centuries as a medical drink. Around two-thirds of the world's population drink tea. It is originated from southern China and entensive cultivated in Asia and in central African countries. Tea can be grouped into three main types, black, oolong, and green tea. Green tea is not fermented and is a major beverage consumed in Asian countries. Green tea is produced from freshly harvest leaves of the tea plant and they contain water, proteins, carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins and polyphenols of the flavonoid type. The major flavonoids in green tea are catechins which constitute about one third of its total dry weight. The major catechin present is epigallocatechin gallate (>50%). New data have increased the interest in green tea or its catechins and its role in treatment of cardiovascular disease (CHD) risk factors. The aim of the present paper is to review some studies that have found a relationship between green tea and CHD risk factors. From some of them it can be summarized that of green tea and its catechins consumptions (i) decrease body weight by interfering within the sympathoadrenal system and fatty acid synthesis, (ii) decrease cholesterol absorption and plasma levels, (iii) have strong free radical-scavenging activity inhibiting LDL oxidation, (iv) reduce the adhesion molecule expression, (v) have antitrombotic activities by inhibiting platelet aggregation and (vi) decrease systolic and diastolic blood pressures. The positive effects found suggest that a daily intake of 7 cups of green tea (3.5 g catechins) is a good choose for CHD prevention; however, it is still necessary more studies to check the action of the green tea and its catechins in humans in order to recommended its use in the general population or only in target subjects.

Fluoride content in tea and its relationship with tea quality

The tea plant is known as a fluorine accumulator. Fluoride (F) content in fresh leaves collected from 14 plantations in China was investigated. The F increased with maturity, and the F variation was remarkable in the tender shoots. Furthermore, significant negative relationships were observed between F content and the content of the quality parameters total polyphenols and amino acids. These substances are rich in young leaves and poor in mature ones. With regard to quality of tea products, the relationship with F content was studied using 12 brands of tea products in four categories: green tea, oolong tea, black tea, and jasmine tea collected from six provinces. The F level increased with the decline in quality and showed good correlation with the quality grades. The results suggest that the F content could be used as a quality indicator for tea evaluation.

Ex vivo modulation of chemical-induced mutagenesis by subcellular liver fractions of rats treated with rooibos (Aspalathus linearis) tea, honeybush (Cyclopia intermedia) tea, as well as green and black (Camellia sinensis) teas

Male Fischer rats were given unprocessed (not oxidized) and processed (oxidized) rooibos and honeybush teas as well as green and black teas as a sole source of drinking fluid for 10 weeks, and sub cellular liver fractions were prepared. Cytosolic fractions of rats consuming the unprocessed herbal teas, green and black teas significantly (P < 0.05) protected against 2-acetylaminofluorene (2-AAF)-induced mutagenesis in the Salmonella mutagenicity test with strain TA 98, using Aroclor 1254-induced microsomes. A marginal or no protection was obtained with the processed herbal teas. The mutagenic response of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) against Salmonella strain TA 100 was significantly (P < 0.05) inhibited by cytosolic fractions from rats treated with processed and unprocessed herbal teas, while no effect was obtained with the green and black teas. Microsomal fractions prepared from livers of rats treated with both the processed and unprocessed rooibos teas and the unprocessed honeybush tea, significantly (P < 0.05) reduced the activation of AFB1 while no protection was observed against 2-AAF-induced mutagenesis. In contrast, microsomal fractions from rats treated with the green, black and unprocessed honeybush teas significantly (P < 0.05) enhanced the mutagenic response of 2-AAF. None of the tea treatments significantly affected the concentration of the microsomal liver cytochrome P450.

The prevalence of tongue lesions in 5150 Turkish dental outpatients

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of nine tongue conditions and relate to data obtained about oral hygiene or habits in Turkish dental outpatients.

SUBJECTS

A total of 5150 subjects (2837 women, 2313 men) were included in this study.

RESULTS

Of the 5150 subjects, 2690 subjects were detected as having tongue lesions with a prevalence of 44.2 and 62.0% for women and men, respectively. The difference was found to be statistically significant (P < 0.0001). There was a strong correlation between tongue lesions and increasing age. There was also a strong association between tongue lesions and smoking, black tea drinking, and fair or poor oral hygiene. Hairy and coated tongue was significantly higher in males. Contrary to this, papillary atrophy was more prominent in women.

CONCLUSION

A strong correlation was found between tongue lesions and age, sex, oral hygiene and habits in Turkish dental outpatients. An efficient oral health program such as the elimination of risk habits and attention to cultural practices may improve tongue hygiene.