Tea Rinsing Effectively Mitigates Probabilistic Health Risks From Heavy Metal Exposure

Tea consumption represents a primary dietary pathway for human exposure to heavy metals. In many countries, "tea rinsing"-the traditional practice of discarding the first infusion-is widely practiced, with some believing that this habit may reduce heavy metal intake. However, robust scientific evidence quantifying whether tea rinsing can effectively reduce heavy metal leaching and thereby mitigate associated health risks remains lacking. The study quantified the concentrations of ten elements (Pb, As, Cr, Co, Cd, Mn, Cu, Fe, Al, and Zn) in tea infusions before and after rinsing, and evaluated the mitigating effect of this practice on health risks using a probabilistic assessment. The results indicate that concentrations of Cr, Mn, Cu, Fe, and Zn decrease significantly (P < 0.05) following the first rinse. The rinsing procedure lowers the mean adult total carcinogenic risk by 36.2%, though all risk values remain within the acceptable regulatory range. Sensitivity analyses identify exposure duration and frequency as the primary drivers of these probabilistic risks. As emerges as the dominant contributor to carcinogenic risk. The findings suggest that discarding the initial tea infusion serves as a simple method to statistically reduce the intake of toxic elements from the evaluated teas.