METALLOPATHY Evidence on heavy metals in people

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What does the evidence say about chromium in people?

EPA's August 2024 assessment sets a chromium(VI) oral reference dose of 0.0009 mg/kg/day based on small-intestine hyperplasia in female mice, and it describes chromium(VI) as carcinogenic to humans by inhalation and likely carcinogenic by the oral route. Chromium(III) is treated separately: EFSA set a tolerable daily intake of 0.3 mg/kg body weight per day in 2014. Most blood and urine chromium results in NHANES 2017 to 2018 were below the limit of detection.

Reference values

EPA IRIS, updated 1 August 2024, lists a chromium(VI) oral reference dose of 9 x 10^-4 mg/kg/day. The stated basis is hyperplasia in the small intestine of female mice. The lifetime oral slope factor is 0.27 per mg/kg/day, with an adult-based slope factor of 0.16 per mg/kg/day. The inhalation unit risk is 0.018 per µg/m3. EPA characterizes chromium(VI) as carcinogenic to humans by inhalation and likely to be carcinogenic to humans by the oral route. EPA IRIS chromium(VI).

The corpus records these ATSDR 2012 minimal risk levels as checked against the 2012 profile, which is not in the saved sources folder: chromium(VI) inhalation 0.000005 mg/m3 for intermediate and chronic aerosols or mists, and 0.0003 mg/m3 intermediate for particulates; chromium(VI) oral 0.005 mg/kg/day intermediate and 0.0009 mg/kg/day chronic; chromium(III) inhalation 0.005 and 0.0001 mg/m3 intermediate for insoluble and soluble particulates. ATSDR toxicological profiles.

EFSA in 2014, recorded from the abstract, set a chromium(III) tolerable daily intake of 0.3 mg/kg body weight per day. EFSA 2014. IARC, as cited by ATSDR 2012 and recorded in the corpus, places chromium(VI) compounds in Group 1 and metallic chromium and chromium(III) in Group 3. IARC volume 100C. A WHO drinking-water value for total chromium was not verified and is not stated here.

NHANES 2017 to 2018

The urine chromium limit of detection printed on the 2017 to 2018 table is 0.19 µg/L. Blood chromium at the 75th percentile was also below the limit of detection.

Chromium, NHANES 2017 to 2018, total population (µg/L). Read from the saved CDC tables.
AnalyteGeometric mean50th95th (95% CI)n
Blood chromium Not calculated Below LOD 0.670 (0.540 to 0.860) 3518
Urine chromium Not calculated Below LOD 0.930 (0.650 to 1.16) 2791

Related pages

Sources

  1. EPA IRIS, Chromium(VI), substance 144
  2. EFSA 2014 chromium(III) opinion, doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2014.3595
  3. ATSDR toxicological profile index (2012 chromium profile cited in the corpus)
  4. IARC Monographs volume 100C
  5. CDC National Report data tables

Heavy Metal Index

Heavy Metal Index: Chromium. This Heavy Metal Index URL returned HTTP 200 on 15 October 2026. Figures on this page are not copied from that index. They come from the sources named above.

What's safe to buy

The Heavy Metal Tested and Certified public register listed no licensees on 15 October 2026. That page reported 0 certified brands and 0 certified products, and it stated that no brand has completed the three-lot baseline. A specimen layout on the register is an illustration, not a licensee. This page does not name or rank any brand.

The program states that certification is a measurement of a product against a published limit, not a statement that the product is safe. If a licensee is later listed for this category, it will be on the register.

This page summarizes cited documents. It does not diagnose or prescribe. Reviewed 15 October 2026.