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

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

The research, “A Multi-Year Heavy Metal Analysis of 72 Dark Chocolate and Cocoa Products in the U.S.” was revealed on July 31, 2024 in Frontiers in Diet.

GW researchers analyzed 72 shopper 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 major well being hazard in adequate quantities.

“All of us love chocolate nevertheless it’s necessary to indulge with moderation, as with different meals that comprise heavy metals, together with massive fish like tuna and unwashed brown rice,” stated Leigh Body, director of integrative drugs and affiliate professor of scientific analysis and management on the GW Faculty 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 writer Jacob Arms, a medical pupil researcher within the Body-Corr Lab on the GW Faculty of Medication and Well being Sciences.

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

Key findings:

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

For the typical shopper, consuming a single serving of those cocoa merchandise could not pose vital well being dangers based mostly on the median concentrations discovered. Nonetheless, consuming a number of servings or combining consumption with different sources of heavy metals might result in exposures that exceed the utmost allowable dose degree.

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 international locations 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.

Shoppers ought to concentrate on potential cumulative publicity dangers, notably with cocoa merchandise labeled natural, as they could have increased heavy metallic concentrations. A serving measurement of darkish chocolate is usually one ounce and has been typically steered to have well being advantages together with cardiovascular health, cognitive performance, and chronic inflammation. Nonetheless, the analysis is proscribed and issues about heavy metals have but to be taken under consideration.