Celery and parsley grown in cadmium-polluted soil
What it found
Celery and parsley grown in soil with added cadmium took up more arsenic, lead and copper, and the authors say long-term eating of contaminated herbs could put human health at risk.
The work was done on plants in soil, not in people.
What they found
Animal and lab studies
Metals in the herbs
As cadmium rose in the plants, levels of arsenic, lead and copper also rose. These went above set limits, except for copper.
Celery takes up cadmium
Celery showed a strong ability to pull cadmium out of the soil, reaching 99.9 micrograms per gram of dry weight. It also tolerated the cadmium well because of its antioxidant defences.
Other findings
Risk measures
Measures of risk from the polluted herbs went above the levels used to judge them. The authors say that eating contaminated herbs over a long time could put human health at risk.
Hazard index
The hazard index was greater than 1, and the cancer risk went above the limits used to judge it in the treated plants, except for arsenic.
What the authors conclude
“In the point of view of toxicology and food safety, growing of medicinal plants should be strictly regulated and distinguished based on the purpose of growing, and further herbs usage.”
Also in their conclusions
- They say that growing medicinal plants should be strictly regulated and kept separate based on what they are grown for, and that herb use should be further controlled.
How it was done
Soil contamination with potentially toxic elements has become a worldwide concern, and this can pollute plants and lower their quality for human consumption. The authors wanted to measure the quality of celery and parsley grown in cadmium-polluted soil.
They grew celery and parsley in soil with no added cadmium, and with 3 and 6 micrograms per gram of cadmium. They measured arsenic, copper, iron, manganese, nickel, lead and cadmium in the soil and in the herbs, and looked at how the plants responded.
What it can’t tell you
- We summarised it from the abstract only.
- This was a study of plants grown in soil, not of people eating them. It cannot show what would happen to human health from eating these herbs.
Who paid
- Funding
- Funded by Ministarstvo Prosvete, Nauke i Tehnološkog Razvoja; Provincial Secretariat for Science and Technological Development (from the PubMed record).
- Authors work at
- University of Novi Sad, Serbia
The paper
- Title
- Health assessment of medicinal herbs, celery and parsley related to cadmium soil pollution-potentially toxic elements (PTEs) accumulation, tolerance capacity and antioxidative response
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Animals and lab studies
- Summarised from
- Abstract only
- Cite
- Arsenov D, Župunski M, Pajević S, Borišev M, Nikolić N, Mimica-Dukić N (2021). Health assessment of medicinal herbs, celery and parsley related to cadmium soil pollution-potentially toxic elements (PTEs) accumulation, tolerance capacity and antioxidative response. Environmental geochemistry and health. doi:10.1007/s10653-020-00805-xPubMed 33439422DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error