Bioavailability of cadmium in rats fed various diets.

Six-week-old female albino rats were fed rat diet or human foods: meat, bread or milk--3 days before and 6 days after a single oral dose of 115m Cd. All animals were killed 6 days after administration and the radioactivity in the whole body and in the gut-free carcass were determined in a double scintillation counter. Gut retentions were calculated as the difference: whole body minus carcass. All animals fed meat, bread or milk had much higher body retentions than animals fed rat diet (whole body 4-5 times, carcass about 3 times and gut 10-14 times). Our results point out the importance of nutritional factors in metal metabolism and toxicity.