How to Determine How Much Lead You're Eating....

My mission is to prevent not only lead exposure but also to get people off of scary lead news sources that use the latest findings to misrepresent the dangers surrounding lead exposure.

I'm not going to sit here and say lead is safe or that exposure is not a big deal.

At the same time, we have to understand something—the levels of lead in food are at a 50-year low.

Lead is leaving the food supply, but our ability to detect it increases every year. I personally own advanced lead detection technology. This equipment is owned by a person without a degree in analytical chemistry or university, government, or private laboratory support.

The world is changing, and there is significantly less lead exposure today than five, ten, or fifteen years ago.

Yes, Lead poisoning prevention still means waiting until a child has already been exposed and then investigating, but progress is happening as a result of lead being banned from gasoline, paint, pipes, and plumbing components.

Between the lack of new lead contamination in the environment and increased scrutiny of the food/ consumables supply, we are safer than ever.

IF you know the level of lead in PPB:

Understanding the Lead Exposure Limits

Multiple health-based limits are used by government agencies, watchdog organizations, and independent researchers to help people interpret lead contamination. These values aren’t always consistent, but they offer valuable context depending on how cautious you want to be.

1. FDA Interim Reference Levels (IRLs)

Source: U.S. Food and Drug AdministrationPurpose: Protect children and women of childbearing age from dietary lead exposure

• 2.2 µg/day for children

• 7.7 µg/day for females of childbearing age

These limits are based on biokinetic modeling, which estimates how much dietary lead would raise blood lead levels by 1 µg/dL—a level at which adverse neurodevelopmental effects become measurable.

FDA applies these IRLs when assessing food and supplement safety, including their baby food action levels.

Reference: Lead in Food, Foodwares, and Dietary Supplements – FDA

2. California Proposition 65 (MADL)

Source: California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA)

Purpose: Set a conservative threshold for public warnings on toxic exposures

• 0.5 µg/day for lead

This is known as the Maximum Allowable Dose Level (MADL) under Prop 65. It is intended to reflect a daily exposure that poses no significant risk of reproductive toxicity, even with lifetime exposure.

Prop 65 is widely cited because it legally requires warnings for products sold in California that exceed this level—Consumer Reports, for example, uses Prop 65 when evaluating supplement safety.

Reference: Final MADL for Lead – OEHHA (2009)

3. Lead Safe Mama Benchmark

Source: Tamara Rubin, Lead Safe Mama

Purpose: Provide a child-safe, ultra-precautionary exposure guideline

• 5 ppb or more is considered “unsafe” for baby food.

Tamara Rubin, a lead poisoning prevention advocate, uses 5 parts per billion (ppb) as a strict cutoff for identifying unsafe levels of lead. This standard is not legally binding but is commonly referenced by parents and safety advocates looking for zero-tolerance, proactive risk avoidance.

If a supplement or product exceeds 5 ppb, Lead Safe Mama flags it using a percentage.

Reference: Lead Safe Mama Blog

4. WHO PTWI (Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake) 

(Deprecated but still cited)

Source: World Health Organization, Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA)

Original Limit: 25 µg/kg of body weight per week (~250 µg/week for a 10 kg child or 1,750 µg/week for a 70 kg adult)

The PTWI was meant to define a tolerable amount of lead intake over a week. However, WHO withdrew the PTWI in 2010, concluding that no safe level of lead exists due to its cumulative toxicity and impact on child development.

This is a perfect example of how much safer things are today in the food and supplement world.

Reference: WHO Summary Report on Lead (2010)

Why Multiple Limits?

Each of these benchmarks serves a different purpose:

Limit Source	Daily Threshold	Based On	Use Case
FDA IRL	2.2–7.7 µg/day	Blood lead modeling	Risk evaluation in food/supplements
Prop 65	0.5 µg/day	Reproductive/ Cancer toxicity threshold	Consumer warning labels
Lead Safe Mama	5 ppb	Baby food proposed limits	Alarming People Without Context
WHO PTWI	~250–1750 µg/week	Tolerable weekly intake (withdrawn)	Historic intake limit

I made this lead intake calculator go one step further.

So you can plug in data and determine the risk yourself.

Empower Your Choices:

Understanding your daily consumption empowers you to make informed choices that align with your health goals and values.

Benefits of Being Informed:

• Enhanced Health: Knowledge of ingredients helps you choose nourishing foods.

• Better Decision-Making: Understanding labels guides you toward supportive choices.

• Increased Satisfaction: Knowing what you eat enhances your dining experience.

Investing in your knowledge boosts confidence and helps you take control of your health journey. Make informed decisions for a healthier, more satisfying lifestyle.

More to come. Stay safe and don't lose sleep so someone can get blog views.

Eric