The daily dose of cadmium absorbed from food, atmosphere and water is 60 - 70 micrograms. And the total permissible content of cadmium in the whole human body is about 30 mg, of which 10 mg is in the kidneys and bladder, and 4 mg in the liver. Talking about the permissible dose of cadmium you must also know that toxic metal accumulates in the body of a healthy person throughout his life - starting from level 0 - that is, total absence at the moment of birth, up to sometimes considerable quantities.¬ródła[8,9,10]: Cadmium;farmacja.cm-uj.krakow.pl
How much of this metal and where do we absorb? With food, approximately 10-20 micrograms of cadmium per day is absorbed in Poland. With water, about 1 microgram per liter is absorbed. The remaining amount of toxic metal gets into the body through the lungs from industrial and urban pollution and food intake from other contaminations. It is estimated that as much as 10% of cadmium gets into the lungs when smoking cigarettes - in the proportion of one cigarette = 1 microgram of cadmium. The penetration of cadmium into the body and its accumulation[2,8,9] The cadmium from the food, after getting into the stomach, reacts with hydrochloric acid. In the stomach, in reaction with hydrochloric acid, cadmium chloride is formed - a highly toxic, strongly irritating compound that can cause inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract. Cadmium compounds are relatively easily absorbed in the gut. After absorption - toxic metal ions get into the bloodstream, where they are mostly absorbed by red blood cells (erythrocytes) and bound by plasma proteins and other morphic components of the blood, as protein-rich cadmium complexes. From the blood, cadmium penetrates into target tissue and organ cells. In them, it causes progressive degradation of cell and tissue structures. The distribution of toxic compounds of cadmium in the body depends on their chemical structure. The plasma-protein organic compounds of cadmium circulating in the blood accumulate mainly in the liver and kidneys. Cadmium chloride and other inorganic metal salts accumulate not only in the liver, kidneys, but also in the bones (long-term!). Cumulation of cadmium in the bones disturbs the calcium and phosphorus metabolism necessary for the continuous regeneration of the strong limb and skeleton structure, which contributes to the thinning and weakening of the skeleton. Long-term accumulation in the bones seems to determine the extremely long half-life of metal in the body, ranging from 16 to 33 years. This accumulation is affected by a small physiological ability to excrete cadmium from the body (mainly through the kidneys) limited to 0.01% of the amount of this element taken with diet, water or dust (dust) from the air. Chronic excess cadmium in the blood causes oxidative stress[8] It is a state of disturbed physiological balance between the activity of systemic antioxidants (antioxidants) and oxidants (prooxidants). It results in an excess of blood of a large number of free oxygen radicals in cells, tissues and blood. As you know - free radicals are aggressive chemical compounds having so-called unpaired electrons are not paired. As a result, they show hyper-reactivity - that is, the ability to enter into an aggressive chemical reaction that can destroy most of the organic structures of the body. Organelles and cell proteins, including genetic DNA, important enzymes (antioxidants, metabolism-controlling) may be damaged; succumb to cholesterol and oxidize the lipids in the blood. Cadmium destroys the most important physiological antioxidants, such as enzymes called peroxide dismutase. They are constantly in our cells, tissues and red blood cells and neutralize the excess of free radicals.Cadmium is a strong antagonist that displaces bio-active metals from antioxidants-enzymes, in particular zinc - which makes them inactive. As a zinc antagonist, it displaces this bioelement from other enzymes and processes, which disturbs, among others, the synthesis of digestive enzymes and the synthesis and release of insulin, whose cellular production requires the presence of zinc. Cadmium also interferes with such important metabolic processes as: obtaining the necessary high-energy phosphorus compounds - the so-called ATP; transformations of calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc and copper, vitamin B1.
