Bioaccessibility and bioavailability adjusted dietary exposure of cadmium for local residents from a high-level environmental cadmium region

Highlights: • Bioaccessibility and bioavailability of Cd were relatively low in food matrix. • Cooking methods influenced Cd bioaccessibility and bioavailability. • Bioaccessibility adjusted dietary exposure data were consistent with urinary Cd excretion. • Exposure assessment adjusted with bioaccessibility and bioavailability may be more accurate. • Consumers living in high Cd contaminated areas face serious health risks. The critical health risks caused by cadmium (Cd) via dietary exposure are commonly assessed by detecting Cd concentrations in foods. Differently, in this study, the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of Cd in major local harvests were introduced to assess the dietary exposure of local residents from a high-level environmental Cd region. The results indicated that certain Cd was released into the digestive juice after in vitro digestion with a bioaccessibility of 20–63% for rice and 3–32% for leafy vegetables, and the released portion was partially absorbed by Caco-2 cells with a bioavailability of 2–21% for rice and 0.2–13% for leafy vegetables. The results obtained from the toxicokinetic model revealed that the predicted urinary Cd values from the estimated daily intake (EDI) of Cd, which accounted for bioaccessibility and bioavailability, were consistent with the actual measured values, and the EDIs were considerably lower than the acceptable daily intake. This suggests that the bioaccessibility and bioavailability adjusted dietary Cd exposure should be more precise. The key issues addressed in our study implores that a potential health risk cannot be neglected in people with high consumption of rice from high-level zone.