Chronic dietary risk assessment of Cadmium at FoodEx2

Cadmium occurs naturally in the environment in its inorganic form, and anthropogenic sources have further contributed to background levels of cadmium in soil, water and living organisms. The general population is exposed to cadmium from multiple sources, including smoking, but in the non-smoking general population food is the dominant source. Cadmium is primarily toxic to the kidney, but can also cause bone demineralisation and has been statistically associated with increased risk of cancer in the lung, endometrium, bladder, and breast. In the current report the dietary exposure of the target population is studied using ImproRisk model v.0.3.2. The aim of this risk assessment study was to estimate the dietary cadmium intake of the population in Cyprus, to compare this exposure estimate with the Tolerable Weekly Intake (TWI) of 2.5 μg/kg body weight (b.w.) per week and to calculate the contribution rate of the major food groups to the dietary cadmium exposure.
Mean dietary Cadmium exposure of the Cypriot population was calculated as 0.884 and 2.471 μg/kg b.w. per week for mean and high consumers, respectively. It was found that approximately 5 % of the whole population was exposed over the TWI value of 2.5 μg/Kg b.w. per week. Much higher exposure was observed for infants, toddlers and other children due to their lower body weight and may be from the consumption habits.
There was no significant difference in Cadmium intake between genders and different geographical areas.
Squids, cuttlefishes, octopuses (20.4%), potatoes (17.9%), tomatoes (7.4%), pasta (5.2%), chocolate and chocolate products (5.0%) and cereal flakes (4.7%) were the food categories with the highest contribution to Cadmium intake.