Elevated Metal Levels in U.S. Honeys: is There a Concern For Human Health?

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Biological Trace Element Research, 2025, v. 203, no. 4: Elevated Metal Levels in U.S. Honeys: is There a Concern For Human Health?
• Journal Article:
  Biological Trace Element Research
• Personal Author:
  Wise, John P. ; Wise, Rachel M. ; Hoffert, Annabelle ; Wise, James T. F. ; Specht, Aaron J.
• Description:
  Honey is a bioactive food used for millennia to improve health and treat diseases. More recently, researchers employ honey as a tool to assess local environmental pollution. Honeybees effectively 'sample' their environment within a ~ 7 km radius, actively collecting nectar, pollen, and water to bring to their hive. Foraging honeybees also sample the air as dust particles accumulate on their pubescence, adding to the hive's contaminant load. Many studies from around the world report elevated metal levels in honey, with the most reports from Iran, Italy, and Turkey, but only two reports have measured metal levels in honey from the United States (U.S.). We report levels of 20 metals from 28 honeys collected from 15 U.S. states between 2022-2023. We then focus on four toxic metals recognized as hazards in foodstuffs when the concentrations are above safety recommendations - lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury. Two of these metals (lead and mercury) are regulated in honey by the European Union (EU), though the U.S. currently lacks defined regulations for metal levels in honey. We consider the levels of these toxic metals by state, then compare the U.S. mean honey level for these metals against the provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI). Our results suggest U.S. honey have levels metal that exceed the PWTI and EU regulations and may be hazardous to human health. Further research is needed to determine if the effects of these toxic metal at measured levels outweigh the health benefits from consumption of honey.
• Content Notes:
  Author manuscript
• Subjects:
  • Honey
  • Humans
  • Food Contamination
  • Metals
  • Animals
  • Arsenic
• Keywords:
  • Honey
  • Metal pollution
  • Honeybees
  • United States
  • Food safety
  • One Environmental Health
• Source:
  Biological Trace Element Research, 2025, v. 203, no. 4
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-024-04295-1
• ISSN:
  0163-4984 ; 1559-0720
• Pubmed ID:
  38995435
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC11816500
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  K01-OH012528/OH/NIOSH CDC HHSUnited States/ ; P30 ES030283/ES/NIEHS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; P20-GM130422/GM/NIGMS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; K01 OH012528/OH/NIOSH CDC HHSUnited States/ ; R21-ES033327/ES/NIEHS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; LAB94629/National Institute of Food and Agriculture/ ; P20 GM130422/GM/NIGMS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; R21 ES033327/ES/NIEHS NIH HHSUnited States/
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• Pages in Document:
  1789-1797 (16 pdf pages)
• Volume:
  203
• Issue:
  4
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/262083/cdc_262083_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.01 MB]
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:88c532490db0fcdf6c4263d6e964ff04ba2803b36b8e79aa7f44078720448bf3656dee866ff027ccbec6ff52c30625baf5d5221a1bbac394043ccf6419650a83