Justin Vijay Gnanou*, Brinnell Annette Caszo*, Vinod George Thykadavil**
* Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Shah Alam, Malaysia.
** Department of Biochemistry, St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore, India.
Corresponding Author: Dr. Justin V Gnanou, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Shah Alam, Malaysia
Email : gnanou_j@yahoo.com
Abstract
Cadmium toxicity plays an important role in the aetiology of hypertension. Tobacco and occupational
exposure to cadmium is the main cause of toxicity in humans. However dietary sources could also play a role
in the development of hypertension. Hence in this study, the presence of increased urinary cadmium
excretion in hypertensive adults possibly due to dietary sources was studied. Twenty-four hour urine
cadmium excretion levels were measured in hypertensive, non-smoking subjects in the age group of 20 – 35
years. Urinary cadmium was measured and the mean 24 hour cadmium excretion in urine was 12.15 μg/day
(normal range: 0.00 to 4 μg/day). High levels of urinary cadmium were found in all subjects. Since
occupational and smoking causes of cadmium exposure were absent, dietary sources are the likely cause of
increased urinary cadmium excretion in these patients.
Key words: Heavy metal toxicity; cadmium poisoning; smoking.
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