Incredibly, [one small study that examined the blood of pregnant women in Bangladesh for lead isotopes](https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.est.9b00744)concluded that a major source of lead exposure is from turmeric consumption. Turmeric is a spice used in India and Bangladesh and other South East Asian both in cooking and for health. Lead from the soil could enter turmeric but the major cause seems to be lead pigments that are illegally added to turmeric to give it a pleasing looking yellow color. Lead in spices can exceed national limits by hundreds of times. [^1] [^1]: Lead poisoning of spices is not just a problem in middle income countries. [Some of these incidents](https://journals.lww.com/jphmp/fulltext/2019/01001/a_spoonful_of_lead__a_10_year_look_at_spices_as_a.11.aspx#T1) have been found in New York too.