Prop 65 and the Fear of Chocolate – Off Topic – COMMUNITY

California’s Proposition 65 wants to keep us safe, but is it instead instilling unnecessary fear and hurting businesses? Get the facts here.

You may have seen the recent news story from Consumer Reports about elevated levels of lead and cadmium in samples of various popular dark chocolate brands.

Sounds scary, right? Unfortunately, these types of reports are designed to instill fear and intimidation in readers, convincing them that they’d better keep subscribing lest they miss the next warning.

the truth? Heavy metals like cadmium and lead are all around us and hard to avoid if you want to live on earth. Even areas you might consider pristine, like Mount Everest, are so polluted with heavy metals that you don’t want to drink melted snow (1).

Furthermore, the analysis of dark chocolate used California’s Proposition 65 (i.e., specifically the Maximum Allowable Dose Level or MADL) as its guide for determining whether levels present were of concern, rather than nationally or internationally accepted reference intakes ( 1, 2).

For those unfamiliar with it, Proposition 65, while laudable in some respects, sometimes has unrealistic expectations of various exposure limits and safe intake levels for potentially harmful compounds (3). It is not uncommon for food and other items to contain Proposition 65 warnings so their manufacturers can sell the item in California while avoiding prosecution for non-disclosure.

You may wonder why products sold outside of California have these same warnings. For most manufacturers, it’s simply because it’s easier to have a uniform label than just designate one for the state of California.

In some cases, Proposition 65 has resulted in significant reductions in the levels of certain potentially harmful chemicals. However, in some cases, there is nothing a particular manufacturer can do to reduce the levels of certain chemicals. (In some cases this may not be possible at all, in others it may be difficult due to time and cost.)

In addition, the proposed MADL sources define unclear endpoints; are much more conservative than practicable; or are not supported by substantial quality evidence. By relying specifically on the Proposition 65 numbers for these metals, you can virtually guarantee that you will get some samples that are outside their defined MADL.

It’s not uncommon to find warnings in parking lots, amusement parks, gyms, and even coffee shops (due to the presence of acrylamide in coffee; levels of acrylamide are so harmless that the state of California only recently directed coffee shops to ignore it) (1,2). There is such a long list of food and consumer products with these warning labels that most consumers probably don’t find them helpful.

Regardless, if Proposition 65 is used as a guide for food intake and life in general, you’ll have quite a few things to avoid. In fact, with respect to the daily intake limits for lead and cadmium, the background levels (ie, the levels consumed by the average person) already exceed the MADL under Proposition 65(2). Feel free to issue Prop 65 warnings to yourself!

Conversely, the foods that likely contributed the most to these heavy metals were sunflower seeds, peanuts, soybeans, shellfish, green leafy vegetables (spinach, lettuce, and kale), and potatoes (6-10). However, almost any fruit or vegetable contains at least some level of these metals. They are ubiquitous in our environment. As expected, the average cadmium intake of vegetarians was almost three times that of non-vegetarians (11).

Based on average concentrations reported by authorities, a 30-gram serving of raw spinach (or 40 grams cooked) exceeds the MADL set by Proposition 65 for cadmium. How about a regular baked potato? identical.

I hope you’re not going to eat a 3.5 oz serving of boiled shrimp. This exceeds the MADL for lead. How about some quinoa? I wish it was less than an ounce. Do you like peanut butter? Ok, but no more than 6 tbsp, not good if you’re a glutton like me.

How about splurging on a plain milk chocolate candy? You may be over the limit. Shredded wheat for breakfast? OK, but if you eat 2 servings, you may exceed the cadmium limit. Do you like sunflower seeds? A small cup of about 30 grams can be enough to push you over your limit (6,7,10,11).

More seriously, instead of avoiding foods, including other healthy ones, remember the following: