Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2020 Dec 7;10(28):201214.
doi: 10.5696/2156-9614-10.28.201214. eCollection 2020 Dec.

Case of Lead Poisoning Associated with Herbal Health Supplements

Abbas Ali Mahdi  1 , Jamal Akhtar Ansari  1   2 , Avinash Agarwal  3 , M Kaleem Ahmad  1 , Suhail Sarwar Siddiqui  3 , Tabrez Jafar  4 , Thuppil Venkatesh  5
Affiliations
Case Reports

Case of Lead Poisoning Associated with Herbal Health Supplements

Abbas Ali Mahdi et al. J Health Pollut. .

Abstract

Background: Lead poisoning is a chronic health condition arising from prolonged ingestion and exposure to lead above permissible limits. Although reported globally, developing countries like India and neighboring countries are amongst the most affected by lead.

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to evaluate lead poisoning associated with herbal health supplements in a suspected case.

Materials and methods: A 31-year-old male reported consuming sixteen different herbal health supplements. The case and supplements were assessed for lead levels. The patient came from one of the metro cities of Uttar Pradesh state, India.

Results: The blood lead level of the case was found to be 78.40 μg/dL, which was much higher than the permissible limit of ≤5 μg/dL. Moreover, one of the supplements was found to have a very high lead content.

Conclusions: The present study demonstrated a case of lead poisoning which was very likely due to high lead content present in one of the supplements. The case had typical neurological signs of lead toxicity such as irritability, frequent headache, mental dullness, generalized pain, muscle weakness, numbness and tingling, and twitching and shaking of the legs while sleeping.

Patient consent: Obtained.

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Keywords: blood lead levels; herbal health supplements; lead poisoning.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Chambial S, Shukla KK, Dwivedi S, Bhardwaj P, Sharma P. Blood lead level (BLL) in the adult population of Jodhpur: a pilot study. Indian J Clin Biochem. 2015 Apr 05;30(3):357–9. 1. doi.org/10.1007/s12291-015-0496-y. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dapul H, Laraque D. Lead poisoning in children. Adv Pediatr. 2014 Aug;61(1):313–33. doi: 10.1016/j.yapd.2014.04.004. doi. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Coyle P, Kosnett MJ, Hipkins K. Severe lead poisoning in the plastics industry: a report of three cases. Am J Ind Med. 2005 Feb;47(2):172–5. doi: 10.1002/ajim.20123. doi. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ansari JA, Mahdi AA, Malik PS, Jafar T. Blood Lead Levels in Children Living Near an Informal Lead Battery Recycling Workshop in Patna, Bihar. J Health Pollut. doi: 10.5696/2156-9614-10.25.200308. doi. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chaudhary S, Firdaus U, Ali SM, Mahdi AA. Factors associated with elevated blood lead levels in children. Indian Pediatr. 2018 Jan 15;55(1):38–40. Epub 2017 Sep 26. PMID: 28952456. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources