The lead and cadmium content in rice and risk to human health in China: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Xianliang Huang; Bo Zhao; Yanlei Wu; Mingtian Tan; Lisha Shen; Guirong Feng; Xiaoshan Yang; Shiqi Chen; Youming Xiong; En Zhang; Hongyu Zhou

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0278686

The lead and cadmium content in rice and risk to human health in China: A systematic review and meta-analysis

PLoS One. 2022 Dec 15;17(12):e0278686. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0278686. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Xianliang Huang^{1

2}, Bo Zhao^{1

2}, Yanlei Wu^{1

2}, Mingtian Tan^{1

2}, Lisha Shen³, Guirong Feng^{1

2}, Xiaoshan Yang¹, Shiqi Chen^{1

2}, Youming Xiong¹, En Zhang¹, Hongyu Zhou^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Food Laboratory, Chongqing Institute for Food and Drug Control, Chongqing, China.
² Key Laboratory of Condiment Supervision Technology for State Market Regulation, Chongqing, China.
³ Chongqing Academy of Chinese Materia Medica, Chongqing, China.
⁴ College of Public Health and Management, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
⁵ The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.

Abstract

Numerous studies have investigated concentrations of lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) in rice in China, but have come to divergent conclusions. Therefore we systematically reviewed and meta-analyzed the available evidence on levels of Pb and Cd in rice in different regions of China in order to assess the potential risk to human health. The meta-analysis included 24 studies of Pb levels and 29 studies of Cd levels, published in 2011-2021. The pooled Pb concentration in rice was 0.10 mg per kg dry weight (95% CI 0.08-0.11), while the pooled Cd concentration was 0.16 mg per kg dry weight (95% CI 0.14-0.18). These levels are within the limits specified by national food safety standards. However, the total target hazard quotient for both metals exceeded 1.0 for adults and children, suggesting that rice consumption poses a health risk.

Copyright: © 2022 Huang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Publication types

Meta-Analysis
Systematic Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Cadmium / analysis
Child
China
Food Contamination / analysis
Humans
Lead / analysis
Metals, Heavy* / analysis
Oryza*
Risk Assessment
Soil Pollutants* / analysis

Substances

Cadmium
Lead
Soil Pollutants
Metals, Heavy

Grants and funding

(1) Recipient: X.S.Y. Grant number: 2017YFC1602000, Funding Source: the National Key R&D Program of China. (2) Recipient: X.L.H. Grant number: cstc2021jxjl130009, Funding Source: Chongqing Performance Incentive Guidance Special Project of Chongqing Science and Technology Bureau. (3) Recipient: X.S.Y. Grant number: cstc2018jscx-mszdX0122, Funding Source: the Key demonstration project of Chongqing Technology Innovation and application demonstration project of Chongqing Science and Technology Bureau. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.