What does the evidence say about titanium in people?

Food additive E171

The corpus records two statements as checked against the EFSA 2021 opinion: a concern for genotoxicity could not be ruled out, and E171 can no longer be considered safe as a food additive. A statement that no acceptable daily intake was set was marked unverified and is not repeated. EFSA 2021. An IARC classification for titanium dioxide was not opened and is not stated.

Implants

Omlor and colleagues (2013) measured 67 patients and compared them with 11 people with non-modular implants and 23 people without implants. Both implant groups had higher serum titanium. The abstract called the absolute levels comparatively low. No systemic health outcome was measured. doi:10.1016/j.actbio.2012.12.001.

Cundy and colleagues (2014) followed 33 children with titanium-alloy spinal fusion. More than 95 percent of postoperative serum titanium and niobium levels were elevated, and levels correlated with implant surface area. Clinical implications were described as uncertain. doi:10.1007/s00586-014-3279-x.

Kasai and colleagues (2003) compared 46 spinal-implant patients with 20 controls. About one third had abnormal serum or hair metal values. Serum levels did not indicate implant failure. doi:10.1097/01.BRS.0000065482.41115.B4.

There is no validated clinical reference range for titanium in this corpus, and the CDC National Report list used here has no titanium table.

Related pages

• Metal-on-metal hip implants

Sources

1. EFSA 2021 titanium dioxide (E171) opinion, doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2021.6585
2. Omlor et al. 2013, doi:10.1016/j.actbio.2012.12.001, PMID 23232209
3. Cundy et al. 2014, doi:10.1007/s00586-014-3279-x, PMID 24659389
4. Kasai et al. 2003, doi:10.1097/01.BRS.0000065482.41115.B4, PMID 12811278

Heavy Metal Index

Heavy Metal Index: Titanium. This Heavy Metal Index URL returned HTTP 200 on 15 October 2026. Figures on this page are not copied from that index. They come from the sources named above.