Table of Contents
For certain elements such as copper and zinc which are essential to human life, a deficiency as well as an excess can cause adverse health effects. Cadmium is not regarded as essential to human life.
Is cadmium essential to living organisms?
Cadmium is a non-essential heavy metal, meaning that it is not used by biological systems.
Does your body need cadmium?
Cadmium has no known beneficial function in the human body. Cadmium is a cumulative toxin. Cadmium is transported in the blood bound to metallothionein. The greatest cadmium concentrations are found in the kidneys and the liver.
What does cadmium do to the human body?
Only a small amount of cadmium remains in the body after eating food contaminated with cadmium, but if consumed over a long period of time, cadmium can lead to kidney disease and cause bones to become weaker. Large amounts of cadmium can damage the kidney, liver and heart and in severe cases may cause death.
How do we get cadmium?
The most important sources of airborne cadmium are smelters. Other sources of airborne cadmium include burning fossil fuels such as coal or oil and incineration of municipal waste such as plastics and nickel-cadmium batteries (which can be deposited as solid waste) (Sahmoun et al.
Why is cadmium harmful to the body?
Cadmium and its compounds are highly toxic and exposure to this metal is known to cause cancer and targets the body’s cardiovascular, renal, gastrointestinal, neurological, reproductive, and respiratory systems.
Which disease is caused by cadmium?
Itai-itai disease is caused by cadmium (Cd) exposure, produced as a result of human activities related to industrialisation, and this condition was first recognised in Japan in the 1960s. Itai-itai disease is characterised by osteomalaecia with severe bone pain and is associated with renal tubular dysfunction.
What foods are high in cadmium?
The food groups that contribute most of the dietary cadmium exposure are cereals and cereal products, vegetables, nuts and pulses, starchy roots or potatoes, and meat and meat products. Due to their high consumption of cereals, nuts, oilseeds and pulses, vegetarians have a higher dietary exposure.
How Does cadmium leave the body?
Virtually no cadmium enters your body through your skin. Most of the cadmium that enters your body goes to your kidney and liver and can remain there for many years. A small portion of the cadmium that enters your body leaves slowly in urine and feces.
How do you get cadmium poisoning?
Cadmium toxicity occurs when a person breathes in high levels of cadmium from the air, or eats food or drinks water containing high levels of cadmium. Cadmium is a naturally occurring metal. It is usually present in the environment as a mineral combined with other elements like oxygen, chlorine, or sulfur.
Does coffee contain cadmium?
Apart from antioxidants and other bioactive compounds, coffee contains carbohydrates, lipids, nitrogen compounds, vitamins and minerals, including toxic elements such as cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) [12, 14, 15].
How do you clean up cadmium?
The OSHA cadmium standard requires that all surfaces shall be maintained as free as practicable of accumulations of cadmium. Proper clean-up of accumulated dust must be accomplished by wet cleaning or using a dedicated HEPA-vacuum: not by sweeping (wet or dry), shoveling or brushing.
Why is there cadmium in chocolate?
Why does food contain cadmium Chocolate plants can absorb cadmium through its roots and store it in chocolate leaves and seeds. This absorption can be influenced by soil acidity and the amount of cadmium available in the soil. Therefore, geographical location can affect the cadmium content in plants.
Where is cadmium most commonly found?
It is most often found in small quantities in zinc ores, such as sphalerite (ZnS). Cadmium mineral deposits are found in Colorado, Illinois, Missouri, Washington and Utah, as well as Bolivia, Guatemala, Hungary and Kazakhstan. However, almost all cadmium in use is a by-product of treating zinc, copper and lead ores.
Is cadmium safe to touch?
The amount of exposure depends on how much cadmium is in the piece of jewelry, and how often and for how long a child bites, sucks, or mouths it. Just touching the jewelry is not a major source of exposure because almost no cadmium enters the body through the skin.
How much cadmium is safe?
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has established a provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) for cadmium at 7 µg/kg of body weight This PTWI weekly value corresponds to a daily tolerable intake level of 70 µg of cadmium for the average 70-kg man and 60 µg of cadmium per day for the average 60-kg woman.
How do you reduce cadmium in water?
Water treatment: There are several treatment methods that reduce cadmium below its MCL. These include: Coagulation and filtration, ion exchange, lime softening and reverse osmosis.
How do you test for cadmium poisoning?
Doctors can usually check for heavy metal poisoning with a simple blood test known as a heavy metals panel or heavy metal toxicity test. To do the test, they’ll take a small blood sample and test it for signs of heavy metals.
Why is cadmium banned?
The ban on cadmium in jewelry is intended to protect consumers, particularly children, from the toxic metal, which has been increasingly showing up in inexpensive costume jewelry imported from China.
What are the effects of cadmium poisoning?
Long-term exposure to cadmium through air, water, soil, and food leads to cancer and organ system toxicity such as skeletal, urinary, reproductive, cardiovascular, central and peripheral nervous, and respiratory systems.
Which disease is caused by the pollution of cadmium metal?
The Chronic Impact of Cadmium on Human Health Around Asia After World War II, a form of Cd-induced renal osteomalacia called itai–itai disease and characterized by fractures and severe pain and it was identified in the Cd-polluted Jinzu River basin in Toyama, Japan [18].
Which metal is responsible for Itai disease?
Cadmium (Cd) is one of the most toxic elements to which humans could be exposed at work or in the environment. The outbreak of itai-itai disease, which is the most severe stage of chronic Cd poisoning, occurred in the Cd-polluted Jinzu River basin in Toyama.
