Food Chem Toxicol. 1992 Apr; 30(4): 281-7.

Faecal elimination of lead and cadmium in subjects on a mixed and a lactovegetarian diet.

Vahter M, Johansson G, Akesson A, Rahnster B.

Karolinska Institutet, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Stockholm, Sweden.

Faecal elimination of lead and cadmium in 16 subjects who changed from a mixed diet to a lactovegetarian diet has been studied. The faecal weight increased significantly following the change to the vegetarian diet, partly because of increased water content. There was a large inter-individual variation in faecal elimination of lead and cadmium during both the mixed-diet period (range 14 to 118, median 31 micrograms Pb/day; range 4.5 to 21, median 12 micrograms Cd/day) and the vegetarian diet period (range 19 to 136, median 42 micrograms Pb/day; range 6.1 to 24, median 14 micrograms Cd/day). There was a tendency towards increased faecal elimination of lead and cadmium following the change to the vegetarian diet, but the differences were not statistically significant.