- Type
- Contaminant (heavy metal)
- How serious
- High severity
- Evidence
- Strong evidence
Why it is flagged
Builds up in the kidney over decades and is a human carcinogen (IARC Group 1). It mimics oestrogen in animal studies and is linked to reduced fertility. Prohibited in cosmetics in Canada. For PCOS, a 2026 meta-analysis of eleven studies found higher cadmium levels in women with PCOS, though whether it contributes to the condition is not established.
Health topics it bears on
Sources
- Cosmetic Ingredient Hotlist: Prohibited and restricted ingredients Health Canada, 2025
- Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality: Guideline Technical Document – Cadmium Health Canada, 2020
- Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on the Association Between Cadmium and Mercury, with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Biological Trace Element Research (Matin et al.), 2026
- Heavy Metals and Essential Elements in Association with Oxidative Stress in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome—A Systematic Review Antioxidants (Srnovršnik et al.), 2023
- IARC Monographs Volume 100C: Arsenic, Metals, Fibres, and Dusts International Agency for Research on Cancer, 2012
- Statement on tolerable weekly intake for cadmium European Food Safety Authority, 2011
- Cadmium in food – Scientific opinion of the Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain European Food Safety Authority, 2009
- Cadmium mimics the in vivo effects of estrogen in the uterus and mammary gland Nature Medicine (Johnson et al.), 2003
Also listed as
cadmium compounds, cadmio, kadmium