INFLUENCE OF VITAMIN-C AND ZINC ON COPPER -INDUCED INCREASED CADMIUM RETENTION IN PIG

In commercial pig fattening, copper is added to the feed in amounts th at greatly exceed the requirements of the animals. On the one hand, th is improves weight gain, but on the other, as we were able to recently prove, the retention of the heavy metal cadmium rises in the kidney, in the liver and in muscle. In a feeding experiment with female and ma le castrated piglets, we tried to counter the copper-induced rise in c admium (175 mg Cu/kg feed) by adding zinc or vitamin C to the diet. Wh ile addition of 100 or 200 mg zinc per kg of diet had no influence, th e addition of 1000 mg vitamin C reduced the elevated cadmium values in the kidneys and livers to values only determined with a low copper su pplementation of 35 mg copper per kg of feed. This positive vitamin C effect not only occurs in cases of high copper supplementation (175 mg Cu/kg feed); when the pigs were given only 35 mg copper per kg of fee d, vitamin C also reduced the cadmium content in the organs by 35 to 4 0%. This indicates that vitamin C improves the quality of food gained from animals for human consumption in both conditions.