Risk Assessment of Dietary Exposure to Cadmium in the Thai Population

Abstract

       Cadmium (Cd) is often found in almost foods and its contamination level depends on the type of food and the contamination in environment. Food consumption is the main source of cadmium intake for people who do not smoke or work in contaminated areas. The cadmium has been classified as a human carcinogen. In 2010, the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) established a provisional tolerable monthly intake (PTMI) on cadmium exposure of 25 μg/kg body weight/month. This research had been carried out during 2011 - 2013 and aimed at assessing the risk of cadmium exposure via food consumption among Thai population. The current results obtained can be served as a supportive data for establishing Thai regulations as well as supporting improvement of the international standards. In the step of exposure assessment of Cd by duplicate portion method, the food consumption data, sample of food and water were collected from 400 households in four regions of Thailand for a period of 4 days. The total number of 1,241 people, 1,600 samples of food and 400 samples of water were analyzed in this study. The Cd concentration was quantified by Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer and Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer. The results showed that the middle bound mean levels of cadmium found in food and water samples were 0.009 mg/kg and 7 × 10^-4 mg/L respectively and the mean intakes of food and water were 1,506 g/person/day and 1,832 mL/person/day, respectively. The middle bound mean dietary exposure across Thai consumers was 7.29 μg/kg body weight/month (average body weight of 58 kg) which was equal to 29% of the PTMI value. In conclusion, Thai consumers are still safe from cadmium exposure through food consumption.