Sub-chronic ascorbic acid supplementation accelerates reduction of liver cadmium levels in broiler chicken

Environmental exposure to toxic heavy metals remains one of the main serious global health concerns. The objective of this study was to determine if daily supplementation with ascorbic acid for 4 weeks could lower chicken liver cadmium concentration after intentionally exposing hens to cadmium sulfate for 1 week. Normal mix-breed adult broiler chickens (N = 24) were used in this study. The baseline liver cadmium concentration was determined using a graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Each chicken then received 200 mg/kg/day cadmium sulfate and 500 mg/kg/day ascorbic acid mixed with water and feedstuff for 1 week and liver cadmium concentrations were determined. A group of chicken (n = 6) received 500 mg/kg/day ascorbic acid and another group (n = 6) did not receive ascorbic acid. The baseline of liver cadmium level was 4.63 (± 0.41) g/g. At the end of week 1, the liver cadmium concentration significantly increased to 60.9 (± 40.1) g/g (p-value < 0.01). Daily supplementation with ascorbic acid for 4 week lowered the liver cadmium concentration to 20.2 (± 13.7) g/g (p-value < 0.05). Supplementation with ascorbic acid could accelerate reduction of cadmium concentration in poultry liver after intentional exposure.