Xinhua news: Researchers use dietary components to reduce cadmium risk in rice

Chinese researchers have found that several dietary components can reduce the cadmium solubility in the intestinal system.

Being one of the oldest environmental problems, heavy metal pollution threatens people's health. And the heavy metal cadmium can be contained within the diet and enter the human body.

There are generally two methods to cut down the cadmium exposure risk: eating food crops with lower cadmium levels and reducing cadmium bioavailability in the systemic circulation.

The researchers from the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences constructed an invitro gastrointestinal model to assess the influence of 39 dietary components on cadmium bioaccessibility in water or rice.

They also used an in vivo bioassay to determine the effects of the most effective components on cadmium bioavailability in rice.

The results showed that several components significantly reduced the solubility of cadmium from 10 to 98 percent in the intestinal phase. Tannic acid, titanium dioxide, zinc gluconate and calcium chloride were the most effective in decreasing cadmium bioaccessibility in rice, according to the research article published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Upon adding the dietary components, the relative cadmium bioavailability in the mouse kidneys and liver saw remarkable reduction rates.

The results are expected to have important implications for reducing health risks associated with cadmium exposure via consumption of rice.

Eating more diet components containing high mineral content and antioxidants is recommended by the researchers for the groups of people who are more likely to exposed to the cadmium in rice. (Xinhua)