WASHINGTON: A report has warned that toxic metals are naturally found in cocoa bean growing lands around the world and that these metals are also being found in chocolate.
“We all love chocolate, but it’s important to eat it in moderation, along with other foods high in heavy metals,” said study lead author Leah Frame of the George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, DC. .
Although it is not possible to completely avoid heavy metals from your diet, you should be careful about what and how much you are eating, he said.
Heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and arsenic can pose health risks if consumed in large quantities.
In their new study, Leah Frame and her team examined 72 cocoa-based products (including dark chocolate) and tried to determine the presence of these metals in them. These items were inspected every year for eight years.
According to the results obtained in the research, 43% of the products were found to have the highest acceptable amount of lead, while 35% of the products were found to have the highest acceptable amount of cadmium.
However, none of the items were found to contain arsenic in excess of acceptable levels.
