How does heavy metal cadmium get into your chocolate?
- Cocoa is a chocolate powder made from ground cacao seeds.
- Cacao seeds naturally contain cadmium originating from the soil because of volcanic activities, eroded rocks, and forest fires.[2]
- Cadmium is a soft, silvery-white metal and is similar in many respects to zinc.
- Cadmium can cause damage to the kidney especially to the proximal tubular cells.[1]
- Cadmium can also cause bone demineralization through direct bone damage or as a result of renal dysfunction.[1]
- Abnormal high concentration of cadmium in cacao and other cocoa-based products such as chocolate may cause serious human health issues.
- Current regulations established a threshold for cadmium content of cocoa-based products.
- However, the biophysical factors such as climate and soil conditions that determine the concentration of soil-derived cadmium in the cacao seed are not well understood.
- Researchers used scientific literature to compile a database from across the Cacao Belt to determine the primary drivers of cacao seed cadmium.
- Cacao Belt refers to the regions approximately 20 degrees latitude on either side of the equator.
- Researchers discovered that total soil cadmium and soil pH can significantly affect the concentration of cadmium in cacao seeds.
- Both available soil cadmium and soil organic carbon content do not influence cacao seed cadmium concentration.
- Soil pH and soil organic carbon decreased the degree of bioconcentration of total soil cadmium in the cacao seed cadmium concentration.
- The results suggest that cadmium reduction strategies utilizing plant physiology-based approach are better compared to soil-based approaches.
- If using soil-based approaches, researchers suggest to use strategies that can increase soil pH greater than 6.0.
Sources:
Wade J, Ac-Pangan M, Favoretto VR, Taylor AJ, Engeseth N, Margenot AJ (2022) Drivers of cadmium accumulation in Theobroma cacao L. beans: A quantitative synthesis of soil-plant relationships across the Cacao Belt. PLoS ONE 17(2): e0261989. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261989
[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19106447
[2] https://ec.europa.eu/food/system/files/2019-03/cs_contaminants_catalogue_cadmium_chocolate_en.pdf
