Does Cadmium Contribute to Human Hypertension

In 1962 Schroeder reported marked hypertension in rats chronically fed a very low cadmium diet and 5 ppm cadmium in water, but subsequently he reported only moderate hypertension. Using Schroeder's food and water, but a slightly less cadmium-free environment, we repeatedly induced mild hypertension with 5 ppm cadmium, mild because control pressures were higher not because cadmium-fed animals had lower pressures. Seven laboratories have observed hypertension after feeding cadmium; six have not. Thus, chronically fed cadmium can induce hypertension in rats, but conditions are important. Additional observations on cadmium-induced hypertension indicate that: (1) concentrations from 0.1 to 5 ppm cadmium in water are pressor; (2) sex, strain, and age of animals are apparently not limiting factors; (3) there is associated sodium retention; (4) there is a concomitant decrease in the high energy phosphate content of tissues. Rats with cadmium-induced hypertension have renal cadmium concentrations which bracket those of the average environmentally exposed American or European. Finally, renal cadmium concentrations in man were significantly higher (p less than 0.05) for "hypertensives" than for normotensive "matches" in five of nine reported series, lower in one, and similar in three, with all series being small and suboptimal in subject selection.