Dietary cadmium exposure assessment in rural areas of Southwest China

PLoS One. 2018 Aug 2;13(8):e0201454. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0201454. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Dietary exposure of cadmium (Cd) has not been studied in Southwest China. The objective of the study was to determine the pollution characteristics and contamination levels in various agriculture products in Southwest China and to conduct a comparison of dietary exposure assessment of Cd in polluted and non-polluted areas. Results showed that the mean Cd contents in rice were 0.53 and 0.52 mg/kg in the high-polluted and low-polluted areas, respectively, with the average value was 0.03 mg/kg in the control area. The mean dietary Cd exposure from rice and vegetables of the selected non-occupational residents in Southwest China was 113.10 μg/kg bodyweight (bw)/month, 88.80 μg/kg bw/month, and 16.50 μg/kg bw/month in the high-polluted, low-polluted, and control areas, respectively, which correspond to 4.5 times, 3.6 times, and 0.66 times of the provisional tolerable monthly intake (25 μg/kg bw/month) established by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. The findings indicated that the risk for Cd exposure of residents was high due to home-grown food (most especially rice) being near polluted areas and is of great concern.

Publication types

  • Randomized Controlled Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Cadmium / toxicity*
  • China
  • Dietary Exposure / adverse effects*
  • Female
  • Food Contamination*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Oryza*
  • Rural Population*
  • Soil Pollutants / toxicity*
  • Vegetables*

Substances

  • Soil Pollutants
  • Cadmium

Grants and funding

The study was supported by the Special Fund for Scientific Research of the Public Welfare Projects of China (No. 201302005). URLs: http://www.nhfpc.gov.cn/zhuz/index.shtml. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.