Toxicity of cadmium and its health risks from leafy vegetable consumption

Author(s): Yingying Huang ¹ ^, ² ^, ³ ^, ⁴ ^, ⁵ , Chuntao He ¹ ^, ² ^, ³ ^, ⁴ ^, ⁵ , Chuang Shen ¹ ^, ² ^, ³ ^, ⁴ ^, ⁵ , Jingjie Guo ¹ ^, ² ^, ³ ^, ⁴ ^, ⁵ , Samavia Mubeen ¹ ^, ² ^, ³ ^, ⁴ ^, ⁵ , Jiangang Yuan ¹ ^, ² ^, ³ ^, ⁴ ^, ⁵ , Zhongyi Yang ¹ ^, ² ^, ³ ^, ⁴ ^, ⁵

Publication date (Electronic): 2017

Journal: Food & Function

Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)

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Abstract

Cadmium (Cd) exposure through leafy vegetable consumption displays adverse effects on humans and solutions to reduce the health risk are summarized.

Abstract

Cadmium (Cd) is a highly toxic heavy metal and has spread widely in the environment in recent decades. This review summarizes current knowledge about Cd contamination of leafy vegetables, its toxicity, exposure, health risks, and approaches to reducing its toxicity in humans. Leafy vegetable consumption has been identified as a dominant exposure pathway of Cd in the human body. An overview of Cd pollution in leafy vegetables as well as the main sources of Cd is given. Notable estimated daily intakes and health risks of Cd exposure through vegetable consumption for humans are revealed in occupational exposure areas and even in some reference areas. Vegetable consumption is one of the most significant sources of exposure to Cd, particularly in occupational exposure regions. Therefore, numerous approaches have been developed to minimize the accumulation of Cd in leafy vegetables, among which the breeding of Cd pollution-safe cultivars is one of the most effective tools. Furthermore, dietary supplements from leafy vegetables perform positive roles in alleviating Cd toxicity in humans with regard to the effects of essential mineral elements, vitamins and phytochemicals taken into the human body via leafy vegetable consumption.

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Current status of cadmium as an environmental health problem.

Lars Järup, Agneta Åkesson (2009)

Cadmium is a toxic metal occurring in the environment naturally and as a pollutant emanating from industrial and agricultural sources. Food is the main source of cadmium intake in the non-smoking population. The bioavailability, retention and toxicity are affected by several factors including nutritional status such as low iron status. Cadmium is efficiently retained in the kidney (half-time 10-30 years) and the concentration is proportional to that in urine (U-Cd). Cadmium is nephrotoxic, initially causing kidney tubular damage. Cadmium can also cause bone damage, either via a direct effect on bone tissue or indirectly as a result of renal dysfunction. After prolonged and/or high exposure the tubular injury may progress to glomerular damage with decreased glomerular filtration rate, and eventually to renal failure. Furthermore, recent data also suggest increased cancer risks and increased mortality in environmentally exposed populations. Dose-response assessment using a variety of early markers of kidney damage has identified U-Cd points of departure for early kidney effects between 0.5 and 3 microg Cd/g creatinine, similar to the points of departure for effects on bone. It can be anticipated that a considerable proportion of the non-smoking adult population has urinary cadmium concentrations of 0.5 microg/g creatinine or higher in non-exposed areas. For smokers this proportion is considerably higher. This implies no margin of safety between the point of departure and the exposure levels in the general population. Therefore, measures should be put in place to reduce exposure to a minimum, and the tolerably daily intake should be set in accordance with recent findings.

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Soil contamination in China: current status and mitigation strategies.

Fang Zhao, Yibing Ma, Yong-Guan Zhu … (2015)

China faces great challenges in protecting its soil from contamination caused by rapid industrialization and urbanization over the last three decades. Recent nationwide surveys show that 16% of the soil samples, 19% for the agricultural soils, are contaminated based on China’s soil environmental quality limits, mainly with heavy metals and metalloids. Comparisons with other regions of the world show that the current status of soil contamination, based on the total contaminant concentrations, is not worse in China. However, the concentrations of some heavy metals in Chinese soils appear to be increasing at much greater rates. Exceedance of the contaminant limits in food crops is widespread in some areas, especially southern China, due to elevated inputs of contaminants, acidic nature of the soil and crop species or cultivars prone to heavy metal accumulation. Minimizing the transfer of contaminants from soil to the food chain is a top priority. A number of options are proposed, including identification of the sources of contaminants to agricultural systems, minimization of contaminant inputs, reduction of heavy metal phytoavailability in soil with liming or other immobilizing materials, selection and breeding of low accumulating crop cultivars, adoption of appropriate water and fertilizer management, bioremediation, and change of land use to grow nonfood crops. Implementation of these strategies requires not only technological advances, but also social-economic evaluation and effective enforcement of environmental protection law.

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Remediation of heavy metal(loid)s contaminated soils--to mobilize or to immobilize?

Nanthi Bolan, Anitha Kunhikrishnan, Ramya Thangarajan … (2014)

Unlike organic contaminants, metal(loid)s do not undergo microbial or chemical degradation and persist for a long time after their introduction. Bioavailability of metal(loid)s plays a vital role in the remediation of contaminated soils. In this review, the remediation of heavy metal(loid) contaminated soils through manipulating their bioavailability using a range of soil amendments will be presented. Mobilizing amendments such as chelating and desorbing agents increase the bioavailability and mobility of metal(loid)s. Immobilizing amendments such of precipitating agents and sorbent materials decrease the bioavailabilty and mobility of metal(loid)s. Mobilizing agents can be used to enhance the removal of heavy metal(loid)s though plant uptake and soil washing. Immobilizing agents can be used to reduce the transfer to metal(loid)s to food chain via plant uptake and leaching to groundwater. One of the major limitations of mobilizing technique is susceptibility to leaching of the mobilized heavy metal(loid)s in the absence of active plant uptake. Similarly, in the case of the immobilization technique the long-term stability of the immobilized heavy metal(loid)s needs to be monitored. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (publisher-id): FFOUAI

Title: Food & Function

Abbreviated Title: Food Funct.

Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)

ISSN (Print): 2042-6496

ISSN (Electronic): 2042-650X

Publication date Created: 2017

Publication date (Electronic): 2017

Volume: 8

Issue: 4

Pages: 1373-1401

Affiliations

[1 ]State Key Laboratory for Biocontrol

[2 ]School of Life Sciences

[3 ]Sun Yat-Sen University

[4 ]Guangzhou

[5 ]China

Article

DOI: 10.1039/C6FO01580H

PubMed ID: 28232985

SO-VID: a3506137-3a56-48de-9039-925a262210bf

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