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Impact of Dietary Cadmium Intake from Rice on Renal Function Biomarker and Population Toxicokinetic Modelling

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Abstract

Cadmium (Cd) exposure in humans primarily occurs through dietary intake, with conventional one-compartment toxicokinetic (TK) models linking dietary Cd intake to urinary Cd (UCd) levels, predominantly in Western populations with low background exposure. However, the applicability of this model to regions with high dietary Cd intake, particularly from rice consumption, remains uncertain. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive population-based survey involving 686 individuals from a typical Cd-polluted area and 296 from a non-polluted area in China, where rice serves as the staple food in both regions. Additionally, we selected 34 individuals from the polluted area for a 27-month intervention, during which home-grown high-Cd rice was replaced with low-Cd rice available in the market. We closely monitored temporal changes in Cd concentration and stable isotope signatures in urine samples. The adults in the polluted area had much higher dietary Cd intakes (mean 58.5 µg kg−1 body weight month−1) and UCd (geometric mean 6.1 µg g−1 creatinine) than those in the non-polluted area. There was a robust dose–response relationship (R2 = 0.67, n = 982) between UCd and β2-microglobulin, a biomarker of renal tubular impairment. The intervention reveals that a considerable proportion of Cd rapidly exuded after recent dietary intake, contradicting the conventional TK model. The modified TK model incorporating the direct blood-urine allocation greatly improved the association between dietary Cd intake and UCd. These results underscore the potential for high dietary Cd intake through rice in China to cause dose-dependent kidney damage. The modified TK model offers a reliable framework to estimate Cd-related thresholds and associated health risks for populations reliant on rice-based diets.

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Data Availability

The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the three anonymous referees for their constructive comments on our manuscript and for their specific suggestions that helped us to improve the article.

Funding

The study was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Gran 2021YFC1809102) and the Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41977375).

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Author notes

  1. Yi Gu and Jun Man have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center of Agricultural Health, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies and College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China

    Yi Gu, Shengnan Zhang, Fang-Jie Zhao & Peng Wang

  2. Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China

    Jun Man & Yijun Yao

  3. China CDC Key Laboratory of Environment and Population Health, National Institute of Environmental Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, 100050, China

    Liqin Su

Authors
  1. Yi Gu
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  2. Jun Man
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Contributions

PW, LS, and FJZ designed the research. YG, and SNZ performed experiments. YG, YY, and JM analyzed data. YG, JM, and PW wrote the manuscript with inputs from all the authors.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yijun Yao or Peng Wang.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

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All participants provided written informed consent.

Ethical Approval

This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Nanjing Agricultural University (2020, No. 20200920170) and the Institute for Environmental Health and Related Safety, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2021, No. 202103).

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Gu, Y., Man, J., Su, L. et al. Impact of Dietary Cadmium Intake from Rice on Renal Function Biomarker and Population Toxicokinetic Modelling. Expo Health (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12403-023-00615-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12403-023-00615-3

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