Is it okay to eat the 'sparkling' gold leaf on the cake?

When eating course dishes or desserts, there are times when food sprinkled with gold leaf is served. The gold leaf is added to create a luxurious feeling, but what effect does consuming gold leaf have on the body?

First of all, ingesting gold does not benefit health. Although there are occasional claims that it has detoxifying effects or promotes blood circulation, there is no medical evidence to support these claims. Edible gold is not absorbed by the body and is mostly excreted. Gold recognized as a food additive must have a purity of over 95%, but such pure gold is chemically inert and not absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety also stated that gold leaf is merely a 'coloring agent' used to improve the appearance or shape of food, and consuming it does not lead to health benefits.

On the contrary, consuming too much gold powder can harm health because it is a type of heavy metal. If it is not a necessary heavy metal for the body's normal functioning, like zinc, iron, or copper, it tends to accumulate in the body. Occasionally eating a small amount of gold powder is okay, but continuous intake of edible gold can put a burden on the liver's ability to filter out heavy metals. This is because the liver cells are damaged during the process of metabolizing and detoxifying heavy metals in the body.

Heavy metals can accumulate in the body and pose a risk of damaging kidney function. The kidneys filter out heavy metals, but if the amount is high, kidney cells can be damaged. Additionally, anemia can occur. Consuming gold can impair the hematopoietic function of the bone marrow because the cells that produce red blood cells are damaged. This can lead to aplastic anemia.

Furthermore, edible gold that does not meet purity standards or contains heavy metals such as chromium, cadmium, or nickel may be detected. Sometimes it's okay to eat it for fun, but if you think of edible gold as a "health food" and keep consuming it, it could actually harm your health, so it's better to stop.

<Source: Health Chosun>