High levels of cadmium and lead in some dark chocolate.

I’m gonna die.

Consumer Reports

I guess it's not only dark chocolate, but all chocolate, just that dark chocolate has more because it's more concentrated.

I notice with dismay that whereas they're apparently identifying the source of the heavy metals as the dust, soil, probably even the cacao trees rather than an inherent ingredient (they say the older trees have more cadmium, meaning, I assume, that they've had more time to absorb cadmium) but no one appears to be worrying about the populations who live in the chocolate growing areas. They must be all the more exposed to the toxins.

Nobody cares?

We mourn the need to avoid or at least cut back on our chocolate consumption, but it's basically a luxury for us.

I do wonder just when these toxic metals began to be part of chocolate harvesting; i.e, when did the heavy metals begin to essentially coat the shells? I doubt that cacao contained them way back when the Mayan and other early civilizations harvested it.
(?)

Sure enough,

quote:

Why are there heavy metals in food?
Many heavy metals, including lead and cadmium, appear naturally in soil, and they make their way into the food supply from the ground. But some have been added to the environment by human activity globally, including pollution caused by farming, industry, and transportation.

quote:

For instance, lead was used in gasoline in the U.S. for decades until it was banned in 1996, and it spread through the atmosphere and settled on the ground, where it remains in the soil to this day, says Wright. “There are measurable amounts [of heavy metals] in pretty much all foods,” he says, “simply because there are metals in our soil.”

where heavy metals in foods come from


And note that the ncbi reports that many foods contain the same heavy metals.

Other foods containing heavy metals

Thanks for posting those links, Amanda. They help to place the issue in context.

I've been aware of the arsenic-rice link for a long time. I tend to associate mercury with Minamata disease, although coal-burning power plants have also been implicated in increased mercury pollution in the environment.

I think the larger message may be to avoid the obvious large risks and try not to worry too much about the smaller ones.

Big Al

Thanks for the links, Amanda.

I knew there was a reason I didn't like dark chocolate!!

but i can die happy!