China has the world’s largest tea plantation area in the world. To sustain high yields of the tea, multiple pesticides are used on tea crops to control pests. Organophosphorus (OP) pesticides are among the most widely used types of agricultural pesticides in China. As tea is a significant potential source of exposure to pesticide residues, the public concern has increased in relation to pesticide residues found in tea in China. The aim of the study was to estimate cumulative dietary exposure to OP residues from tea infusion for Chinese tea consumers to determine whether exposure to OP residues from tea infusion is a cause of health concern for tea consumers in China. OP residue data were obtained from the China National Monitoring Program on Food Safety (2013–2014), encompassing 1687 tea samples from 12 provinces. Tea consumption data were obtained from the China National Nutrient and Health Survey (2002), comprising 506 tea consumers aged 15–82 years. The transfer rates of residues from tea leaves into tea infusions were obtained from the literature. The relative potency factor (RPF) approach was used to estimate acute cumulative exposure to 20 OP residues from tea infusion using methamidophos as the index compound. Dietary exposure was calculated in a probabilistic way. For tea consumers, the mean and the 99.9th percentile (P99.9) of cumulative dietary exposure to OP residues from tea infusion equalled 0.08 and 1.08 μg/kg bw/d. When compared with the acute reference dose (ARfD), 10 μg/kg bw/d for methamidophos, this accounts for 0.8 and 10.8% of the ARfD. Even when considering OP residues from vegetables, fruits and other foods, there are no health concerns based on acute dietary exposure to OP residues from tea infusion. However, it is necessary to strengthen the management of the OP pesticides used on tea in China to reduce the risk of chronic dietary exposure to OPs from tea infusion.
Kaempferol is a natural flavonoid with reported bioactivities found in many fruits, vegetables, and medicinal herbs. However, its effects on exercise performance and muscle metabolism remain inconclusive. The present study investigated kaempferol’s effects on improving exercise performance and potential mechanisms in vivo and in vitro. The grip strength, exhaustive running time, and distance of mice were increased in the high-dose kaempferol group (p < 0.01). Also, kaempferol reduced fatigue-related biochemical markers and increased the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) related to antioxidant capacity. Kaempferol also increased the glycogen and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) content in the liver and skeletal muscle, as well as glucose in the blood. In vitro, kaempferol promoted glucose uptake, protein synthesis, and mitochondrial function and decreased oxidative stress in both 2D and 3D C2C12 myotube cultures. Moreover, kaempferol activated the PI3K/AKT and MAPK signaling pathways in the C2C12 cells. It also upregulated the key targets of glucose uptake, mitochondrial function, and protein synthesis. These findings suggest that kaempferol improves exercise performance and alleviates physical fatigue by increasing glucose uptake, mitochondrial biogenesis, and protein synthesis and by decreasing ROS. Kaempferol’s molecular mechanism may be related to the regulation of the PI3K/AKT and MAPK signaling pathways.