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Cardno ChemRisk scientists recently published a human health risk assessment of lead (Pb) ingestion to adult wine drinkers.  Recently, it has been reported that wine samples contain detectable levels of heavy metals, including Pb. The presence of Pb in wine is believed to arise from soil composition, industrial emissions, fertilizers, and winery equipment. The goal of this study was to determine if Pb intake poses a health risk among adult consumers of wine. Cardno ChemRisk scientists performed a literature review of studies reporting Pb concentration in United States and international wines, determined adult wine consumption rates in the United States using NHANES dietary survey data, utilized the U.S. EPA’s Adult Lead Methodology (ALM) model to estimate adult blood lead levels (BLLs) from wine consumption under various exposure scenarios, and compared modeled BLLs to guidance values. According to our results, all modeled BLLs were below the Center for Disease Control (CDC) BLL guidance value of 5 μg/dL.

Overall, our findings suggest that Pb content in wine does not pose a health risk to adult wine consumers.

The full article can be found here.