Cobalt whole blood concentrations in healthy adult male volunteers following two-weeks of ingesting a cobalt supplement

Recently, there has been an increase in the marketing and sales of dietary supplements, energy drinks, and other consumer products that may contain relatively high concentrations of essential elements. Cobalt-containing supplements are readily available in the U.S. and have been marketed to consumers as energy enhancers. However, little information is available regarding cobalt (Co) body burden and steady-state blood concentrations following the intake of Co dietary supplements. We assessed Co whole blood concentrations in four healthy adult male volunteers who ingested a commercially available Co supplement (0.4 mg Co/day) for 15 or 16 days. Pre-supplementation blood Co concentrations were less than the reporting limit of 0.5 μg/L, consistent with background concentrations reported to range between 0.1 and 0.4 μg/L. The mean whole blood Co concentration in the volunteers after 15 or 16 days of dosing was 3.6 μg Co/L and ranged from 1.8 to 5.1 μg Co/L. The mean observed concentration in the study group was approximately 9-36 times greater than background concentrations. Further studies of Co whole blood concentrations following supplementation over longer time periods with additional monitoring of physiological parameters may provide useful information for evaluating the health of persons who take various doses of Co.