We rarely talk about cadmium. However, this heavy metal (whose toxicity has been recognized since the 1950s) is very dangerous for health: when it is present in too large a quantity in the body, the kidneys can experience dysfunctions and suffer irreversible damage.
Cadmium is mainly present in food: seafood, offal, mushrooms … In addition, this heavy metal is also found in atmospheric pollution (a few nanograms per cubic meter of air in Paris, for example) and in tobacco: one cigarette = 1 microgram of cadmium!
According to a new study coordinated by the University of Missouri-Columbia (in the United States), women contaminated with cadmium are significantly more likely than others to develop endometrial cancer.
To come to this conclusion, the researchers worked with 631 American women who had suffered endometrial cancer in their lifetime and 879 American women who had never crossed paths with this disease. All the participants filled out a questionnaire concerning their lifestyle, their diet, their level of physical activity … then had to send urine and saliva samples to the scientists.
A higher risk of around 22%
Results ? Researchers found that women who had more than 200 mg of cadmium per kilogram (the “limit” set by health authorities) had, on average, a 22% increased risk of developing endometrial cancer during their pregnancy. life.
“In the body, cadmium mimics the action of estrogen,” explains Jane McElroy, lead author of this work published in the medical journal PlOs One. However, we know that significant exposure to estrogen can promote the development of endometrial cancer. “
Scientists warn women against the harmful effects of smoking: “the level of cadmium in the blood of a smoker is twice as high as that of a non-smoker,” they specify.
As a reminder, endometrial cancer (or “cancer of the body of the uterus”) is the second most common gynecological cancer in women with 7,215 new cases estimated in France in 2012. The average age of patients at the time of diagnosis is 68 years.
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