Bread, chocolate, breakfast cereals … This metal dangerous for health is omnipresent in our environment.
“It’s a real public health scourge” Alerted liberal doctors to a letter addressed to the government in May 2025, according to the Egora site. In August, it is the UFC-Que-Choisir which draws the alarm signal by revealing worrying cadmium rates-especially for children-in chocolate tablets, breakfast cereals, powder chocolate, chocolate cakes … Some farmers use phosphate fertilizers rich in cadmium. “The floors accumulate cadmium which can only come out by plants. It then penetrates easily in plants by their roots and thus enters the food chain” explain the doctors.
What is cadmium?
Cadmium is a Very toxic metal omnipresent in our environment. In children the consumption of Breakfast cereals Increases the levels of cadmium impregnation. In adults, the exposure factors found are tobacco consumption leading to an increase of more than 50% in smokers and the consumption of shells and crustaceans. According to ANSES and Public Health France, 0.6% of adults and 15% of children aged 3 to 17 (36% of children under 3) have Cadmium food exhibitions exceeding the daily dose tolerable. “”Cadmium environmental exposure remains a public health problem in France“Esides Public Health France in an investigation.
In what food?
It is found in many foods such as wheat products including bread, cookies, breakfast bars and cereals, chocolate, soy products, vegetables, rice, potatoes, seaweed, seafood, offal such as liver and kidneys and tap water.
What symptoms in case of excess?
Cadmium is a sneaky substance because it hardly produces symptoms, except in the event of significant exposure. The first clinical indication of its presence at dangerous levels in the body is the appearance of osteoporosis and renal failure. “”Only a medical analysis of blood or urine (test of alt transaminases or homocysteine) makes it possible to detect the amount of cadmium in the body“Explains Dr. Joseph Pizzorno, researcher and author of the book” Toxic, the solution “(ed. Thierry Souccar).
What are the risks to health?
For over 20 years, cadmium has been recognized as “carcinogenmutagenic and toxic for reproduction “by the International Center for Research on Cancer. In moderate dose, the kidneys are able to filter it and quickly eliminate it from the blood. Unfortunately at high concentration, it can accumulate in the kidneys and blood, damaging fragile tissues and causing many damage to health like cancers.”At high concentration, cadmium is even more toxic than lead and mercury and contributes to a large number of health problems. It is associated with heart disease (infarction myocardium), pulmonary diseases (lung cancer, BPCO), kidney diseases, bone (osteoporosis) or metabolic (diabetes) “diseases”, List Dr. Joseph Pizzorno. “”Cadmium has long been regulated in France“, Indicates an expert to us from the National Institute of the Industrial Environment and Risks (INERIS). ANSES has recommended maximum contents in food and in fertilizers (industrial or natural fertilizers) to reduce the contamination of cadmium soils. It has established a reference toxicology value, in other words, a daily dose below which there would be no risk for health (0.35 µg Cadmium/kg/day).
How to protect yourself on a daily basis?
The best is to vary its diet as much as possible to limit its exposure to cadmium. Dr. Pizzorno also recommends:
► To avoid as much as possible food cultivated with pesticides and to favor products from French organic farming (they contain half as much cadmium on average but can still contain them like the chocolate products tested by the UFC-Que-Choisir in August 2025).
► To season his dishes with certain spices: Curcumin, the active ingredient of turmeric, protects the kidneys from toxic substances, in particular cadmium, and preserves their filtration capacity. According to a study published in the Journal of Medicinal Food, ginger is excellent for preventing renal damage caused by cadmium thanks to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.
► to remove your shoes into the entrance to avoid introducing toxic substances at home. “”Plan toilet socks or slippers for guests. Packed and regularly wipe the surfaces, especially if you live in town where there may be a lot of toxic particles. “
Finally, you must avoid cigarettes as much as possible (active or passive smoking) because the cadmium accumulates in the tobacco leaves.
