Cadmium and lead in spinach and how exposure might be cut
What it found
Spinach can carry cadmium and lead, and the review says the two metals behave differently in soil, in the plant and in the body.
It looks at ways to lower how much gets into the leaves and into people.
What they found
Studies in people
Absorption varies
How the body takes in, moves, changes and clears a metal depends on the metal itself, on other elements and nutrients in the food, and on the person's nutritional status.
Other findings
Metals behave differently
Cadmium and lead differ in how they act in soil, how plants take them up and where they end up in the edible tissue. So there is no single fix for cutting metal exposure from foods.
Lowering cadmium in leaves
The authors say more research should focus on cutting chloride inputs for leafy greens, to lower how much cadmium plants can take up.
Oxalate and cadmium
More work is needed on the role of oxalate in reducing how much cadmium from spinach the body absorbs.
What growers need
Interviews with people involved in producing spinach pointed to a need for better analytical testing facilities and for education of growers and shoppers.
Other leafy greens
The authors say the findings apply to other leafy greens such as kale and lettuce, but not to other plants or other metals.
What the authors conclude
“More research should focus on minimization of chloride inputs for leafy greens to lessen plant-availability of Cd and the role of oxalate in reducing Cd bioavailability from spinach.”
Also in their conclusions
- They emphasise the need for better analytical testing facilities and for grower and consumer education.
- They say more research should focus on minimising chloride inputs for leafy greens to lessen plant-availability of cadmium, and on the role of oxalate in reducing cadmium bioavailability from spinach.
- They note their findings are applicable to other leafy greens such as kale and lettuce, but not for other plants or metal(loid)s.
How it was done
Foods made from plants are a source of exposure to metals, and programmes like the FDA's Closer to Zero aim to cut young children's exposure to cadmium, lead, arsenic and mercury from food. The authors say each metal and plant pairing needs its own look, so they use spinach, cadmium and lead as the example.
They reviewed research on how cadmium and lead behave in soil, how spinach takes them up and stores them in the leaves, how much the body absorbs, and what could be done to lower exposure. They also spoke with people involved in producing spinach to judge what is practical.
What it can’t tell you
- We summarised it from the abstract only.
- This is a review, so it pulls together other work rather than testing spinach itself.
- It cannot show how much cadmium or lead a particular packet of spinach contains.
- It cannot say what effect a given amount of spinach would have on any one person's health.
Who paid
- Conflicts
- The authors declare no conflicts of interest relevant to this study.
The paper
- Title
- Mitigating Toxic Metal Exposure Through Leafy Greens: A Comprehensive Review Contrasting Cadmium and Lead in Spinach
- Type
- ReviewThe authors read earlier studies and describe what they found. It isn’t a new study.
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Abstract only
- Cite
- Seyfferth AL, Limmer MA, Runkle BRK, Chaney RL (2024). Mitigating Toxic Metal Exposure Through Leafy Greens: A Comprehensive Review Contrasting Cadmium and Lead in Spinach. GeoHealth. doi:10.1029/2024GH001081Free full textPubMed 38887469DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error