43% of cocoa products exceed lead safety levels, study finds

A brand new research from George Washington College discovered a disquieting proportion of cocoa merchandise within the U.S. include heavy metals that exceed tips, together with greater concentrations in natural merchandise.

The research, “A Multi-12 months Heavy Metallic Evaluation of 72 Darkish Chocolate and Cocoa Merchandise within the U.S.” was revealed on July 31, 2024 in Frontiers in Diet.

GW researchers analyzed 72 client cocoa merchandise, together with darkish chocolate, each different yr over an eight yr interval for contamination with lead, cadmium, and arsenic, heavy metals that pose a big well being hazard in enough quantities.

“All of us love chocolate but it surely’s vital to indulge with moderation, as with different meals that include heavy metals, together with giant fish like tuna and unwashed brown rice,” mentioned Leigh Body, director of integrative drugs and affiliate professor of scientific analysis and management on the GW College of Medication and Well being Sciences.

“Whereas it isn’t sensible to keep away from heavy metals in your meals solely, you have to be cautious of what you’re consuming and the way a lot.”

The distinctive research was led by Leigh Body and the research’s lead creator Jacob Arms, a medical scholar researcher within the Body-Corr Lab on the GW College of Medication and Well being Sciences.

The researchers used a threshold of most allowable dose ranges to evaluate the extent of heavy steel contamination in an array of chocolate merchandise, discovered on grocery retailer cabinets.

Key findings:

43% of the merchandise studied exceeded the utmost allowable dose stage for lead.
35% of the merchandise studied exceeded the utmost allowable dose stage for cadmium.
Not one of the merchandise exceeded the utmost allowable dose stage for arsenic.
Surprisingly, natural labeled merchandise confirmed greater ranges of each lead and cadmium in comparison with non-organic merchandise.

For the common client, consuming a single serving of those cocoa merchandise could not pose important well being dangers primarily based on the median concentrations discovered. Nevertheless, consuming a number of servings or combining consumption with different sources of heavy metals may result in exposures that exceed the utmost allowable dose stage.

Meals with excessive lead ranges could embrace animal meals that may bioaccumulate heavy metals (shellfish, organ meats) and meals or natural dietary supplements grown in contaminated soil and/or imported from nations with much less regulation (e.g. China, Nigeria, India, Egypt). For cadmium, the primary issues are the identical with the addition of some seaweeds, particularly Hijiki seaweed.

Customers ought to concentrate on potential cumulative publicity dangers, significantly with cocoa merchandise labeled natural, as they might have greater heavy steel concentrations. A serving measurement of darkish chocolate is usually one ounce and has been usually recommended to have well being advantages together with cardiovascular well being, cognitive efficiency, and power irritation. Nevertheless, the analysis is restricted and issues about heavy metals have but to be taken into consideration.