T. Watanabe et al., REDUCTION IN CADMIUM IN BLOOD AND DIETARY-INTAKE AMONG GENERAL POPULATIONS IN JAPAN, International archives of occupational and environmental health, 65(1), 1993, pp. 190000205-190000208
Blood samples and 24-h duplicates of food were collected in the years
around 1980 and then in 1990's from inhabitants of nonpolluted regions
in Japan. The 1990 study is still in progress with 286 blood samples
and 125 food duplicates already collected from 7 regions. A preliminar
y analysis is made in the present study with the data obtained from th
e 7 study regions where the survey was conducted in 1980 and then in 1
990, to examine possible changes in dietary cadmium intake (Cd-D) and
consequently cadmium levels in blood (Cd-B) during this 10 year period
. The food duplicate analysis showed that Cd-D in 1980 was 47.1 mug/da
y (1.74):65 [GM (GSD):N] for men and 27.7 mug/day (1.75):65 for women.
The counterpart values in 1990 were 29.5 mug/day (1.66):40 for men an
d 23.8 mug/day (1.73):85 for women; the difference between the two val
ues for the same sex is significant (P<0.05) both in men and in women,
suggesting that there occurred about 37% and 14% reduction in dietary
cadmium intake during this 10 year period in men and in women, respec
tively. Comparison in Cd-B showed that Cd-B for men and women in 1990
were 1.79 mug/l (2.01):121 and 1.84 mug/l (1.67):165, respectively, wh
ereas the counterpart values in 1980 were 3.84 mug/l (1.64):123 and 3.
57 mug/l (1.42):141, respectively, indicating significant (P<0.01) red
uction in Cd-B in both sexes in parallel to the reduction in Cd-D. The
role of rice as a major source of cadmium among Japanese population t
ogether with recent reduction in the importance is discussed; Cd in ri
ce accounted for 72% in late 1970's, whereas it is about 35% in the pr
esent study.